Chinese Pork Purchase

Shuanghui International Holdings’ purchase of Smithfield Foods for $7.1 billion, including debt, will be approved by federal regulators. This is because the relevant regulator, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), only blocks deals involving national security. And bacon just isn’t a national security or defense concern. Moreover, given China’s chronic trade surplus with the US, it’s reasonable that Beijing buy more than US Treasuries with microscopic yields.