The CFIUS Awakens: Will the Force Be With Foreign Investors Under Trump?

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was created by Congress with the 1950 Defense Production Act. For decades, it was a sleepy intergovernmental coordinating body led by the Treasury Department that only a handful of Washington lawyers knew or even cared about. CFIUS isn’t a household name, and the subject didn’t even make it into the very long, debate-filled presidential campaign season in 2016. But the election of Donald Trump, and his first days as president, should put deal makers around the world on notice given the prominence of populist plans (i.e., border wall with Mexico) and xenophobic rhetoric (i.e., extreme vetting of Muslim immigrants). And if anyone was looking for some moderation or transition into governing, Trump’s “America First” inaugural address was a shot across the bow to businesses and investors abroad – especially ones seeking to invest in the United States.