October 25, 2023

Scott, Colleagues Sound Alarm on China’s Dominance in Global Payments Market

Washington, D.C. – Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) led all 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. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), 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.) joined the Ranking Member in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, in which 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 Administration to examine the infiltration of Chinese payment networks into the U.S., the senators urge the Biden 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,” the senators wrote. “…Efforts by the CCP to infiltrate the U.S. financial system must be met with extreme scrutiny.”

The letter continues Ranking Member Scott’s efforts to ensure entities tied to the CCP do not infiltrate or compromise U.S. consumers’ data. Earlier this year, the Ranking Member urged the Biden administration to implement the 2020 CFIUS national security finding regarding TikTok and introduced the Know Your App Act, which would require app stores to display an app’s country of origin and enable users to filter out apps from countries of concern, including China.

Read the full letter here.

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