State Department Urges Universities to Disclose China Stocks Held in Index Funds
The relationship between the U.S. and China has been sliding downhill at an alarming rate in recent weeks. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib highlights three reasons why the ties between the two countries will be a major debate topic on the run up to Election Day. Photo: Aly Song/Reuters
A State Department official this week urged university endowments to divest Chinese stocks and disclose Chinese assets held in their index funds.
China’s growing prominence in emerging-markets indexes has steered more money from U.S. institutions into China, putting many endowments at odds with the Trump administration’s increasingly confrontational stance toward Beijing.
“Studies have shown that the majority of the U.S. university endowment fund portfolios own PRC stocks listed on American exchanges either directly or indirectly through emerging markets index funds,” wrote Keith Krach, the undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, in a Tuesday letter, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
