Shares in US-listed Chinese companies tumbled on Thursday afternoon giving up earlier gains following a report by Fox Business that President Donald Trump is considering delisting Chinese firms from American exchanges amid an escalation in the trade war between Washington and Beijing.
Charles Gasparino, a senior correspondent at Fox Business, said on social media platform X that the Trump administration is “moving toward a possible delisting of Chinese public company shares on US exchanges,” and added that incoming SEC chair Paul Atkins is expected to take up the matter once he formally assumes office.
Atkins previously served as an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 and will return to lead the US securities regulator. He was confirmed by the Senate earlier this week in a 52-44 vote and the exact date of Atkin’s swearing-in has not been announced.
“Sources: Delisting possibility comes amid trade war with China but also growing GOP Congressional appetite to delist Chinese companies,” Gasparino added later in the post. “Sources: US law allows delisting if Chinese companies don’t allow inspection of books and ties to the Chinese government. Sources: Lawmakers particularly concerned about so-called “golden shares” that grant the Chinese government control over listed cos.”
Earlier on Thursday, the White House said that cumulative tariffs are at 145% on China after the latest round of tariff hike from the U.S. Administration.
Asked on Wednesday whether the US was considering the removal of Chinese companies from American stock exchanges, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the decision would ultimately rest with Donald Trump.
Bessent — who is seen as a close associate of Trump’s economic policy team — said he thinks “everything is on the table” before detailing upcoming measures on export controls and limits in the Chinese assets that U.S. retail and institutional investors “should not be investing.”
“We’re putting in process export controls for high value security-related goods. We’re talking about capital export, capital controls in terms of — as you said — a blacklist of things that US..whether pension funds, and [inaudible], and investors should not be investing in to fund the Chinese military machine.”
Bessent said that the delisting of Chinese companies from U.S. exchanges would be something decided by Trump noting later that both leaders “have a very good personal relationship.”
“That will be President Trump’s decision. You know, at the end of the day, President Trump and Chairman Xi have a very good personal relationship and I am confident that this will be resolved at the highest level,” the U.S. Secretary of Treasury stated.
Speaking with Fox News, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday the Trump Administration will “no longer allow China to dump cheap foreign products into the United States of America while they prevent American-made products from entering their market.”
Despite saying Trump believes China wants to talk with the U.S., Leavitt added that both Democrats and Republicans “have called on the President to do something about this, to finally attack our crippling trade deficit with China and to also make them pay for the more than $600 billion they have stolen from American companies and taxpayers in the form of intellectual property.”
