Foreign direct investment screening and congressional backlash politics in the United States
| Published date | 01 November 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1369148120947353 |
| Date | 01 November 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Symposium on Backlash Politics in Comparison |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148120947353
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2020, Vol. 22(4) 666 –678
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1369148120947353
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Foreign direct investment
screening and congressional
backlash politics in the United
States
Brandice Canes-Wrone1,
Lauren Mattioli2 and Sophie Meunier1
Abstract
This article examines a particular instance of backlash against economic globalisation – the screening
of foreign direct investment in the United States. Although most foreign direct investment is
welcome in the United States, specific transactions have aroused suspicion and triggered political
backlash by Congress. In fact, successive episodes have reshaped the institutions through which
the United States screens foreign direct investment. The recent emergence of China as a foreign
investor has posed new political challenges and led to further restrictions. This article explores
the circumstances that make congressional backlash to Chinese foreign direct investment more
likely, or to use the language of Alter and Zürn in this Special Issue, the ‘triggers’ of congressional
backlash. Our findings highlight several patterns, notably that domestic political motives are
strongly associated with congressional backlash and that generally the members instigating it do
not represent the district in which the investment is located.
Keywords
backlash, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Chinese investment, foreign
direct investment, globalisation, US congress
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a primary vector of economic exchange between
nations. Facilitated by the implementation of a liberal economic order with the teleological
goal of openness, FDI surged across the globe in the 1990s following capital liberalisation
(e.g. see Scheve and Slaughter, 2004). Alongside trade, FDI openness made globalisation
possible by enabling the disaggregation of production across countries and the creation of
global value chains. Most foreign direct investment is welcomed in the United States, long
the top destination in the world for both FDI stock and flows (UNCTAD, 2019), because
the investment stimulates growth and jobs domestically while enabling investors to get a
1Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Robertson Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
2Department of Political Science, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Corresponding author:
Brandice Canes-Wrone, Princeton University, 206 Fisher Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
Email: bcwrone@princeton.edu
947353BPI0010.1177/1369148120947353The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsCanes-Wrone et al.
research-article2020
Special Issue Article
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