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Posted September 17, 2014
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow is developing new legislation to change how the government reviews foreign investors’ purchases of American companies, according to an U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee release available here. Farm Futures also published an article available hereand Politico here.
Stabenow’s concerns were voiced during a PBS Newshour Investigation highlighting the acquisition of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods by Shuanghui International, which would be the largest American company purchase by China.
“Food security is national security,” said Stabenow in the report available here. “And I can’t imagine that the American people will feel comfortable if they wake up someday and find that half of our food processors are owned by China. And I think there are some very, very tough questions that need to be answered.”
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. approved the sale even with concerns from the agriculture industry, according to Farm Futures.
Stabenow was “relatively skeptical” of the situation.
“I’m all about exports, I want to see us export our products but it seems to me removing the unfair barriers from China would be a lot quicker and more efficient than saying the only way they can get in is if they own our company. That just doesn’t make sense to me,” said Stabenow.
For more information, the two-part PBS Newshourinvestigation is available here.
For more information on international law and organizations, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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