Rounds, Scott and Colleagues Urge Biden Administration to Confront China’s Influence on U.S. Financial System

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, joined Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and the Republicans on the Banking Committee in urging the Biden administration to confront the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) expanding footprint in the U.S. financial system and global payments market.

In their letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, the senators warn that rapidly expanding Chinese payment networks may undermine U.S. foreign policy, threaten Americans’ sensitive financial and consumer data privacy and violate international trade practices. In addition to calling for the Biden administration to examine the infiltration of Chinese payment networks into the U.S., the senators urge the administration to evaluate CCP’s unfair commercial practices toward U.S. companies and review potential U.S. sanctions gaps related to China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s (“CCP”) ongoing efforts to expand its footprint in the United States’ (“U.S.”) financial system and the global payments market…undermine U.S. foreign policy, threaten Americans’ sensitive financial and consumer data privacy, and violate international trade practices,” wrote the senators. “…Efforts by the CCP to infiltrate the U.S. financial system must be met with extreme scrutiny.”

In addition to Rounds and Scott, the letter was signed by Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

Click HERE to read the full letter.

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