Washington – As chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin today issued the following statement about the President’s decision regarding Broadcom Limited’s (Broadcom) attempted hostile takeover of Qualcomm Incorporated (Qualcomm):
“Consistent with the Administration’s commitment to take all actions necessary to protect the national security of the United States, the President issued an order that prohibits the takeover of Qualcomm by Broadcom and orders certain other steps to effectuate such prohibition.
“The President took this action pursuant to section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 (Section 721). Section 721 authorizes the President to suspend or prohibit certain acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign persons where he finds that there is credible evidence that the foreign interest exercising control might take action that threatens to impair national security, and where provisions of law other than Section 721 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act do not provide adequate and appropriate authority to protect national security in the matter under review.
“This decision is based on the facts and national security sensitivities related to this particular transaction only and is not intended to make any other statement about Broadcom or its employees, including its thousands of hard working and highly skilled U.S. employees. The CFIUS process focuses exclusively on identifying and addressing national security concerns. This focused mandate reinforces our commitment to welcoming foreign investment, while at the same time reinforcing our commitment to protecting national security.”
A copy of the President’s order may be found here.
About CFIUS
CFIUS is chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury and includes as members the Secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, Energy, and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the U.S. Trade Representative. The Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Labor participate as non-voting, ex-officio members. CFIUS involves other agencies of the Executive Branch in its deliberations on a case-by-case basis.
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