Greenfield projects are the best bet

Comment

Chinese firms are establishing affiliates abroad at an accelerating pace. So far, however, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the US has been negligible, although it is beginning to increase. This is not surprising; if anything is surprising, it is that there has not been more Chinese FDI in the US. This country is, after all, the world's single most important market and consequently also the most important host country: In 2010, the US attracted $228 billion in FDI flows, some one-fifth of global FDI outflows that year.

But the question arises: Is the US ready for FDI from China? We examined this question in the framework of a joint project between the US Chinese Services Group of Deloitte LLP and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, with the results published by Edward Elgar in a volume entitled Investing in the United States: Is the US Ready for FDI from China?