Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale Discusses the U.S. Election and Trade

Business Intelligence and Investigations Managing Director and Duff & Phelps Institute Fellow Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale joined Bloomberg Radio to discuss the upcoming U.S. presidential election and how it will impact future trade agreements.

During the interview, Nicole drew upon her past role as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s lead on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to share her insights on how CFIUS relates to global trade and the increasing focus on data privacy as a risk in foreign investments.

When asked how data privacy concerns should be investigated or litigated, Nicole said, “I think CFIUS is certainly the right mechanism…and there’s no statute of limitations on how long before CFIUS can look at this. They have the ability to open up any transaction that threatens national security.”

Nicole also shared her insights on the impact of COVID-19 on trade and supply chains, saying, “We have seen a lot of tension in the supply chains around the world as a result of COVID-19. China has been the center of much of manufacturing activity, particularly in supply chains, and I think it’s been a wake up call that companies really need to be looking around the corner even more around what could happen if they have too much of an investment in one area of the world in their supply chains, what that can mean for their businesses overall.”

Commenting on the USMCA, Nicole said, “I think what’s really important to recognize today is that regions are competing, not countries. It’s important to have a strong North American trade agreement for our region to be successful, and it benefits the U.S., China and Mexico. So I think that it has been an important development. It did modernize NAFTA…I think it’s very positive that the North American region is able to be competitive with the rest of the world.”

Listen to the full segment here.