Bill Aims to Kick Harmful Chinese Companies Off US Stock Exchanges

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 23, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Republican lawmakers on March 3 introduced a bill that would block “malign Chinese companies” from being listed on American exchanges and other U.S. capital markets.

Under the proposed legislation, Chinese companies and their subsidiaries and affiliates that are on the Commerce Department’s “entity list” or the Pentagon’s list of companies “owned or controlled by” the Chinese military would be barred from tapping into American capital markets, including listing in securities exchanges and being included in indexes.

The move would build upon former President Donald Trump’s order banning U.S. investments in Chinese companies on the Pentagon list, which took effect in January. The measure was aimed to block American capital from being used to fund the Chinese regime’s military development, jeopardizing U.S. national security. Since the order, indexes providers have removed several Chinese stocks from their indices, and the NYSE has announced the delisting of four Chinese companies.

“This is pretty simple: Communists who help keep Chairman Xi’s dictatorship running—operating his surveillance state, managing his torture camps, or building his next-generation weapons systems—shouldn’t be able to access American capital,” bill co-sponsor Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said in a statement.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the bill’s lead sponsor in the Senate, said the legislation sends a message to the Chinese Communist Party “that they will no longer be able to exploit our financial system.”

He urged the Biden administration to support the bill and “build upon—not undo—the critical work the previous administration took to address China’s exploitation of U.S. capital markets.”

More than 300 Chinese companies are on the trade blacklist known as the entity list, having been added by Washington over concerns relating to national security or human rights. For instance, some firms listed aid China’s military activities in the South China Sea, while others help the Chinese regime’s surveillance of Uyghurs in its repression campaign in the Xinjiang region. U.S. companies are banned from doing business with firms on the list without a license from the Commerce Department.

A companion bill was also introduced to the House by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).

In December 2020, Trump signed into law legislation that requires Chinese companies to comply with U.S. auditing and reporting standards or face exclusion from U.S. stock exchanges.

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