CFIUS and a Role for American Leadership

Abstract

Seldom before has the U.S. been so economically connected to a country it also sees as a strategic competitor. China was the U.S.’s largest trading partner in 2017, with $711 billion in cross-border trade flows. At the same time, China is highlighted in the White House’s National Security Strategy document as actively challenging the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region, globally and against Western values, and in the development of advanced technologies. The bilateral relationship is complicated to say the least. And policymakers are often unsure of how to balance economic freedom with the protection of U.S. national security from Chinese influence.

What is new is opposed, because most are unwilling to be taught; and what is known is rejected, because it is not sufficiently considered that men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

—Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 2. “The Necessity and Danger of Looking into Futurity,” March 1750