Lawmakers urge US Treasury to reject sale of aluminium giant to China
Letter to treasury secretary says selling Aleris to China Zhongwang Holdings would be a ‘strategic misstep’
More than two dozen US lawmakers have urged US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to reject the proposed sale of US aluminium products maker Aleris to China Zhongwang Holdings to protect US security interests.
In a letter to Mnuchin on Friday, the 27 lawmakers said it would be a “strategic misstep” to allow the US$2.33 billion sale to go ahead.
“It is critical that CFIUS exercise extreme caution when a foreign investment transaction includes the transfer of military proficiencies and sensitive technology to China,” the lawmakers wrote, referring the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. “It would be a serious strategic misstep to permit a company like Zhongwang Holdings to take control of a US aluminium firm like Aleris.”
The lawmakers said Aleris was involved in the production and testing of specialised alloys used by the defence industry, and the company’s research and technology were critical to US economic and national security interests.
“Chinese entities, including state-owned or state-controlled enterprises, often maintain relationships with China’s military, compounding the risk that US technologies will fall into the wrong hands,” they wrote.