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Washington, D.C. —  U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a statement after Chinese ride-hail company Didi filed for an initial public offering. Last year, Rubio and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) worked to pass the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act into law. The HFCAA subjects Chinese and other foreign companies listed on American exchanges, like Didi, to the same audit oversight standards as all other U.S. listed firms. The law requires that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delist and ban over-the-counter trading for firms that are out of compliance with U.S. regulators for a period of three years. In other words, because the Chinese Communist Party prevents the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from conducting an audit, Didi would be delisted from American exchanges in three years.   
 
“America cannot continue to allow unaccountable companies based in China to ignore our nation’s laws,” Rubio said. “Every time the SEC allows companies like Didi to list on American exchanges, it funnels desperately needed U.S. dollars into Beijing and puts the investments of American retirees at risk. The Biden Administration should take action to block Didi’s IPO and work with us on a legislative solution to prohibit all IPOs from unaccountable actors.”
 
In May, Rubio and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced the No IPOs for Unaccountable Actors Act to prohibit initial public offerings (IPOs) on U.S. exchanges for Chinese companies that are out of compliance with U.S. regulators. This legislation would direct the SEC to prohibit any company headquartered in a jurisdiction in which the PCAOB lacks standard auditing authority, or that retains an auditor PCAOB cannot inspect, from registering a security and making an IPO on a U.S. stock exchange. This would prevent Chinese companies from issuing IPOs or listing on American exchanges through SPACs.