Wed August, 2020, Age: 3 years
According to a review of publically available loan data by the strategy consulting firm Horizon Advisory, up to $419 million of the U.S. government’s coronavirus relief aid intended for small businesses may have gone to Chinese companies. The $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program legislation has already been criticized for being disproportionately allocated to larger companies with more robust legal and accounting teams which could navigate the complex terms of the loan program, while sidelining the mom-and-pop businesses that it was intended to help. A loophole in the legislation also allowed for American subsidiaries of foreign firms to receive loans, allowing U.S. citizens’ tax dollars to go to companies which may have had access to other forms of capital from public or private markets abroad.
From the article: “The revelation that Chinese-backed companies were helped by American tax dollars shows the deep ties that remain between American and Chinese businesses even as relations between the countries have deteriorated in recent months.”
