White House Considering Delisting Chinese Companies from U.S. Exchanges

The Trump administration is considering delisting Chinese companies from American stock exchanges, according to reports from Bloomberg, Reuters, and CNBC.

Bloomberg reported that the administraton is also considering a ban on U.S. pensions from investing in Chinese stocks.

Unnamed sources told CNBC’s Eamon Javers that the White House go as far as banning all U.S. financial investments in China.

Shares of many Chinese companies traded on U.S. exchanges fell sharply on Friday. Alibaba fell by 5.3 percent. Baidu shares fell 3.8 percent.

The plans are still in their early stages and have not yet been approved by President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter. But Bloomberg reported that the president has given the greenlight to the discussion of how the shares could be delisted.

Over the summer, lawmakers on Capitol Hill introduced a bill to force Chinese companies listed on American stock exchanges to submit to regulatory oversight, including audited financial statements, or face delisting. Representatives from China have been lobbying hard recently against the bill, according to a person familiar with the matter.