Trump Blocks $1.3bn Sale of US Tech Company to China For 'National Security' Reasons

RT
Sep. 13, 2017

President Donald Trump has blocked one of the largest attempted acquisitions of a US company by a Chinese firm, with the tough policy against China continuing, despite the exiting of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who favored "economic nationalism."

On Wednesday, Trump issued an executive order through the Defense Production Act of 1950, denying the Chinese-backed private equity firm Canyon Bridge Capital Partners from acquiring US-based chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor Corporation for $1.3 billion.

Trump stated that Canyon Bridge “shall take all steps necessary to fully and permanently abandon the proposed transaction,” within a timeframe of 30 days, according to Reuters.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin released a written statement on Wednesday outlining the reason for blocking the deal.

"Consistent with the administration's commitment to take all actions necessary to ensure the protection of US national security, the president issued an order prohibiting the acquisition," Mnuchin said, according to the Oregonian.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also released a statement referencing China’s stake in the deal, saying the “national-security risk posed by the transaction relates to, among other things, the potential transfer of intellectual property to the foreign acquirer.”

Before Trump issued Wednesday’s executive order, the president’s former chief strategist told CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ program on September 10 that Trump faces obstruction from within Washington’s political establishment in regards to how he handles economic issues.

"They do not want Donald Trump's populist, economic nationalist agenda to be implemented," Bannon said.

In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington earlier this year, Bannon stated that economic nationalism was the antithesis of “globalism,” which he described as being a governing creed that puts the economic interests of the wealthy international elite and multinational firms above those of normal working class Americans.

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