Accelerating change: The Tipline for 3 December 2020

During GCR Interactive: Foreign Investment and Protectionism yesterday, US practitioners emphasised that heavier scrutiny of Chinese transactions began during the Obama administration, not the Trump administration. The outgoing president “just really accelerated the change in thinking”, said Arent Fox partner David Hanke. Their comments came as a bipartisan committee on China suggested that the Federal Trade Commission develop a process to measure how foreign government subsidies facilitate proposed mergers. Also in Tipline, FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra wants to use so-called crown jewel provisions in consent decrees and a DC court sends the Department of Justice back a step in its fight against Google.