The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) | U.S. Department of the Treasury is a Treasury Department based interagency forum whose members include representatives from Department of the Treasury (chair), and the following agencies Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Defense, State,  Energy, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and Office of Science & Technology Policy.  Additional White House organizations which may observe and participate include Office of Management & Budget, Council of Economic Advisors, National Security Council, National Economic Council, and Homeland Security Council along with occasional participation by the Director of National Intelligence and Labor Department.

CFIUS’ purpose is reviewing certain transaction involving foreign investment in the U.S. and certain real estate transactions by foreign persons to determine if such transactions impact U.S. national security.  It was first established in 1975 by President Gerald Ford’s Executive Order 11858  Microsoft Word – EO 012308.DOC (treasury.gov) with multiple subsequent amendments.  Its current governing law is the 2018 Foreign Investment Risk and Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA)  H.R. 5515-538 TITLE XVII—REVIEW OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND EXPORT CONTROLS (treasury.gov) Public Law 115-232.

This organization’s annual reports from 2008-2022 are available at CFIUS Reports and Tables | U.S. Department of the Treasury with these reports covering multiple sectors of economic activity and countries.  Topics covered in these annual reports may include whether foreign governments used espionage to obtain commercial secrets related to critical technologies, foreign direct investment in the U.S. by countries boycotting Israel or not banning terrorist organizations, and the scope of foreign direct investment in the U.S.

This blog post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University.