The Treasurer of Australia is suing a China-linked company for failure to divest its shares on grounds of national security. Last year, the investor had been ordered to sell its stake in Northern Minerals,
which the government considers an important critical minerals company. The sale never happened.
The website of Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board recently disappeared. The incident raised some questions about whether Australia had “given up” on regulating foreign investment, but what transpired was actually a refreshing approach that may have lessons for CFIUS.
It was a busy week for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. The Office published its annual review of the state of IP protection and enforcement, and said it would start its process to reassess existing tariffs on certain Chinese goods. Details, highlights, and more are inside.
As we covered earlier this year, Australia had dropped its foreign direct investment screening threshold to $0 to address perceived risks arising from the pandemic. Those temporary measures are about to lift, but new FDI measures come into effect on the same day. Details, contacts and more are inside.