WASHINGTON WATCH FOREIGN TIES OF COMPANIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00280R000100110004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 16, 2013
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 26, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/16: CIA-RDP91-00280R000100110004-7
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on Watch1Clyde H. Farnsworth
Foreign-Tis
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Of Cprpibailies
??WASHINGTON
FF1CIAL Government policy is still to en-
courage foreign investment, but Congress
and some departments, especially the De- -
'Tense Department, are starting to worry about the ?
rile:thous of the ownership of some high-tech- '
American enterprises by foreign govern-
4irent-cimtrolled companies. ?
trsorch nationalization is one of the concerns, -
rispcj has already led to an impact study by an inter-
:agency group known as the Committee.on Foreign
,jnyestment in the United States.
-One of the nationalization targets is Pechiney
iigine Kuhlmann, a big French metals and mining
vampany that owns the Howmet Aluminum Corpo7
.ration of Greenwich, Conn., and the Howmet Tur-
bine Components Corporation of Muskegon, Mich. _
he turbine company is the leading American sup-
- of turbine blades for jet engines. .
. . ? . ?
. ? '11 -?..? ? ?
The Committee on Foreign Investment, made
-,-zupof representatives of the Treasury, Commerce, ?.?
State, Defense and Labor departments and the Of- -
' lice of the United States Trade Representative, is ?
analyzing, among other things, the possibility, of
? the transfer of sensitive data. - ?
-I Another issue is the possible conflict between
' business as usual for the American company and
? broader French Government policies of spurring
the French aircraft industry. Under one hypothe-
iris, the French Government could squeeze the
? American compa9y dry of secrets, and capital in
- hopes of giving an edge to French competitors.,
_ The House Commerce, Consumer and Monetary
.Affairt Subcommittee, under its chairman,13enja-
min S. Rosenthal, Democrat of Queens, is examin-
ing the whole question of sensitive data transfers
In connection with the Kuwait Petroleum Corpora-
tion's bid for the Santa Fe International Corpora-
tion. The Kuwait company has a single stockhold-
er, the Kuwaiti Government. Santa Fe, among
other things, builds oil drilling rigs and nuclear
,
? ? ` ? ' . ? ?
Other issues are raised by investmenti'lrom
South Africa and Canada. The politics of apartheid
Come bp in the icquisition by Consolidated Gold
Fields Ltd- of 25 percent of the Newmont Mining
Corporation, which in turn is one of the leading
- holders of shares in the Penbody Coal Company.
Ottawa's policies of freezing American compa- -
fries out of Canadian energy development are
nrovoking thoughts of retaliation in this capital,
perhaps even by completely halting the flow of in-
vestments from the north. The State Department
Is the loudest of the voices on the interagency com-
mittee arguing that this would serve little purpose.
"They're helping us .find oil," said one State De-,
partment official. .."Why drive their rigs back
north?" ? ?
The United States has three times the Invest-
ment abroad of foreign companies in this country.
Another issue raised by those apposed to barriers
is the fate of those foreign holdings if the United
States suddenly turned protectioni.st.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/04/16: CIA-RDP91-00280R000100110004-7