News

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a statement after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — in a complete reversal of an earlier announcement due to misguided, erroneous guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department — made clear that the exchange will move forward with its plan to delist China’s large telecom carriers: China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corp., and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. The delisting action comes after the President issued an Executive Order to prohibit U.S. investments in firms that are on the U.S. Department of Defense lists of Communist Chinese military companies.
 
“It is outrageous that those in the U.S. Treasury Department attempted to undermine the President’s Executive Order in a blatant attempt to serve the interests of Wall Street and the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of the United States,” Rubio said. “After an intense pressure campaign from those of us who believe we should prioritize the interests of American workers and mom and pop investors above Beijing and Wall Street, I am pleased that the NYSE decided to reverse their earlier announcement and take the correct action: delisting China’s telecom companies. I hope that this embarrassing incident makes clear that there is a strong, bipartisan consensus that the United States will not allow China’s exploitation of U.S. capital markets, or Wall Street’s role as facilitator, to continue unimpeded.”
 
The President’s Executive Order closely resembles legislation that Rubio introduced last October. Specifically, Rubio’s American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act would prohibit malign Chinese companies — including the parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or a controlling entity — that are listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List or the U.S. Department of Defense lists of Communist Chinese military companies from accessing U.S. capital markets. A one-pager of the legislation is available here.