Crystal Saleh, formerly a supervisor for Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. issues at USDA, is no longer with the government after being "impacted" by the Trump administration's sweeping cuts of employees who are still on probationary status, she announced on LinkedIn. Saleh had been with USDA since February 2024, where she oversaw projects related to CFIUS compliance and agriculture.
Paul Rosen, former assistant secretary for investment security at the Treasury Department, has joined Latham & Watkins as a partner in the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and national security practice, the firm announced. At Treasury, Rosen oversaw CFIUS and its investment screening and enforcement activities.
Companies should expect Trump administration to take an increasingly aggressive stance on China-related inbound and outbound investment restrictions, especially because of the makeup of President Donald Trump’s team and key Cabinet officials, a former Treasury Department official and trade consultant said.
The Trump administration may be beginning to favor the use of trade policy tools like tariffs to replace sanctions to compel foreign policy, researchers said on a podcast hosted by the Center for a New American Security last week.
Republican lawmakers reintroduced several bills Jan. 22 aimed at curbing the acquisition of American land by certain foreign countries.
Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, said Jan. 16 that the U.S. should institute a “very rigorous screening process” to ensure its outbound investment does not help China catch up to the U.S. in such key technology areas as artificial intelligence, computing chips, quantum computing and surveillance.
President Joe Biden’s decision to block the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan-based Nippon Steel (see 2501030009) “creates troubling risks to the United States’ global economic standing that could only worsen in the years to come,” Sarah Bauerle Danzman, a resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, wrote in a blog post for the think tank last week.
Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp. and U.S. Steel Corp. asked a federal court Jan. 6 to set aside the Biden administration’s “illegal and improper” decision to block Nippon Steel’s acquisition of the American firm. Their lawsuit also urges the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to conduct a new review of the proposed $14.9 billion transaction.
Almost 10 months after announcing he would oppose the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel Corp. by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp. (see 2403140049), President Joe Biden issued a formal order Jan. 3 blocking the deal, saying he continues to believe the 124-year-old American steelmaker should remain in domestic hands. Nippon Steel criticized the decision and hinted it will challenge it in court.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has told U.S. Steel that it was unable to reach a consensus on the proposed acquisition of the American steelmaker by Japan’s Nippon Steel, prompting it to refer the matter to President Joe Biden to make a decision, U.S. Steel said in a statement late Dec. 23.