U.S.-Mexico settlement to watch international investments comes as extra Chinese cash flows into Mexico
MEXICO CITY — As extra Chinese cash flows into Mexico, the United States and Mexico on Thursday agreed to watch international investments and commonly share details about the screening course of.
The U.S. is changing into “more deeply integrated with Mexico,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated at a information convention in Mexico City. “We want to see further deepening of our economic relationship with respect to our supply chains, supply chain resilience and we think it’s important to be somewhat more coordinated than we have been when it comes to investment screening.”
The U.S. desires to stop Chinese purchases of delicate American know-how that could possibly be accessed by means of different U.S. buying and selling companions. The U.S.-Mexico settlement might assist obtain that aim.
“Our focus in talking to Mexico is not just China focused. It is the general belief that it is important to make sure there are not national security concerns that are implicated in any foreign investments,” Yellen stated.
“This engagement is further evidence of the close partnership between our two countries, not only on matters of trade but also on critical issues of national security,” she stated.
The U.S. is Mexico’s high buying and selling companion, with bilateral commerce reaching greater than $850 billion in 2022. China has elevated investments in Mexican firms up to now few years and is the fastest-growing supply of international funding in Mexico.
The U.S. Treasury Department stated the brand new settlement addresses “national security risks that can arise from certain foreign investment, particularly in certain technologies, critical infrastructure, and sensitive data.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby instructed reporters that “we don’t ask countries to choose between the United States and China when it comes to economic opportunities or investment.”
He stated the U.S. is desirous about offering financial “alternatives to some of the less transparent, less reliable, high interest loans that other nations around the world seem to be willing to proffer. But again, every nation has to decide for itself.”
The Biden administration acted to ban the exports of superior laptop chips to China final 12 months. In August, President Joe Biden signed an govt order to control high-tech U.S.-based investments going towards China. Washington stated that transfer was focused but additionally mirrored an intensifying competitors between the world’s two greatest financial powers.
Biden and China’s president, Xi Jinping, met in November and pledged to stabilize their relationship as they showcased modest agreements to fight unlawful fentanyl and reestablish navy communications. Deep variations on financial competitors and world safety threats stay.
Earlier throughout her journey to Mexico, Yellen promoted her company’s new strike pressure to assist fight illicit fentanyl trafficking because the U.S. and China step up efforts to cease the motion of the highly effective opioid and drug-making supplies into the United States.
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Hussein reported from Washington.
