US Senate passes bill to delist Chinese companies from exchanges

The Senate approved by unanimous consent legislation that could bar some Chinese companies from being listed on US stock exchanges amid increasingly tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.

The bill, introduced by Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, would require companies to certify that they are not under the control of a foreign government.

If the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is not able to audit the company for three consecutive years to determine that it is not under the control of a foreign government, the company’s securities would be banned from the exchange.

“I do not want to get into a new Cold War,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor, adding that he wants “China to play by the rules.”