Washington will NOT de-list Chinese companies from US stock markets – US Treasury

The US is not planning to blacklist Chinese companies from trading on US stock markets, according to a Department of the Treasury statement. Rumblings of a possible cut-off came on Friday and sent shivers through the markets.

“The [US] administration is not contemplating blocking Chinese companies from listing shares on US stock exchanges at this time,” the US Treasury said in a statement, posted by spokeswoman Monica Crowley on her Twitter on Sunday. The statement added that the Treasury “welcome[s] investment in the United States.”

According to media reports on Friday, the White House had been considering the possibility of restricting capital flows into China by limiting Chinese companies from trading on US stock exchanges. Reuters, for instance, reported this, citing a source within the government. The move, if taken, would have led to a radical escalation of already tense trade relations between the US and China.

The report, first posted by Bloomberg, also rattled financial markets on Friday, sending the US benchmark S&P 500 index SPX down 0.53 percent and the Dow DJIA 0.26 percent lower, in midday trading. Chinese internet giants listed in the US were hit harder, though, with Alibaba BABA falling a whole 5 percent and Baidu BIDU nearly 4 percent.

China’s currency the yuan fell by 0.4 percent against the US dollar, to its weakest against the greenback in nearly three weeks.

The news comes at a sensitive time for US-China relations, as the two countries get ready for a possible resolution of their months-long trade dispute in talks set to be held in Washington on October 10, with the Chinese delegation to be led by Vice Premier Liu He.

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