Obama Admin Blocks Foreign Business Deal, Cites National Security Risks

The Obama administration on Friday ordered a Chinese company to divest its interest in four wind farm projects situated near the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility in Boardman, Ore., marking the first time in 22 years that a U.S. president has nixed a foreign business deal.

"There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that Ralls Corporation … and the Sany Group (which includes Sany Electric and Sany Heavy Industries), a Chinese company affiliated with Ralls … and, Mr. Dawei Duan (Mr. Duan) and Mr. Jialing Wu (Mr. Wu), citizens of the People's Republic of China and senior executives of the Sany Group, who together own Ralls," the statement from the White House Office of Press Secretary reads, "might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States."

Other than its proximity to a U.S. Navy base known for testing unmanned drones and "electronic-warfare planes," the Obama administration has not made clear how the Ralls purchase poses a threat to national security.

"The transaction resulting in the acquisition of the Project Companies and their assets by the Companies or Mr. Wu or Mr. Duan is hereby prohibited, and ownership by the Companies or Mr. Wu or Mr. Duan of any interest in the Project Companies and their assets ... is prohibited," the statement adds.

Considering the already tense relationship between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China, President Obama's decision to block Ralls probably won’t help anything.

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"The last time a president used the law to block a transaction was 1990, when President George H.W. Bush voided the sale of Mamco Manufacturing to a Chinese agency," the Associated Press notes.

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Front page photo source courtesy the AP.