CHINA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday [9-13-17] blocked a Beijing-backed fund’s attempt to buy an American chip maker, signaling his administration will closely scrutinize Chinese efforts to invest in U.S. semiconductor technology.
Mr. Trump rejected the transaction after the would-be deal makers—Chinese government-backed Canyon Bridge Capital Partners and Lattice Semiconductor Corp. —made a rare, direct appeal to him. They had hoped he would overrule an earlier negative recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., a multiagency panel that reviews deals for national-security concerns.
Instead, the White House said Wednesday that Mr. Trump believes the $1.3 billion transaction could have risked U.S. national security due to ‘the potential transfer of intellectual property to the foreign acquirer, the Chinese government’s role in supporting this transaction, the importance of semiconductor supply chain integrity to the United States Government, and the use of Lattice products by the United States Government.’
Companies typically withdraw deals that can’t win CFIUS approval before they reach the president’s desk to avoid a likely White House rejection, but Canyon Bridge and Portland, Ore.-based Lattice waged an unusually public and fierce fight to try to save their deal, including the request to Mr. Trump to overrule his own national-security officials.
The deal became a lightning rod in a broader battle between the U.S. and China over chip technology and foreign direct investment more generally.”
-Kate O’Keeffe, “Trump Blocks China-Backed Fund from Buying Lattice Semiconductor,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 13, 2017 07:38pm