Should Trump Confiscate Chinese Assets?
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:45 pmGavin Clarkson, President Trump's former deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development, has called on President Trump to seize the $1.1 trillion of U.S. Treasury Bonds China has purchased over the last 30 years as reparations for the coronavirus.
Trump's declaration of a national emergency on March 13, 2020, triggers additional powers, including the ability to confiscate foreign assets under 50 USC § 1702(a)(1)(C). Pursuant to that statute, seized assets can then be liquidated and the proceeds used to further the interests of the United States. Under my proposal, FSIA immunity is irrelevant.
Just as we have done previously with Iran, Congress can deny China the ability to sue for any actions taken under my proposal. The Supreme Court upheld Congress’s authority to prevent Iran from suing in Bank Markazi v. Peterson, 136 S. Ct. 1310 (2016). We should do the same to the Communist Chinese dictatorship.
The Department of the Treasury should electronically confiscate all U.S. Treasurys currently held by China. Treasury bonds are no longer held in paper form but are recorded electronically at the Depository Trust Corporation, so this can be done with just a few keystrokes.
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