With 1,000 jobs and Boeing’s $2 billion investment in South Carolina at risk the suit by the government could have harmful consequences in the global investment community.

Philip Greenspun, Harvard Law at Business Insider

EXCERPTS:

Whatever the ultimate decision in the lawsuit, the very existence of the dispute will change the business landscape here in the U.S. for the next decade or two.

For a U.S. company, for example, the prospect that Boeing’s $2 billion investment might be effectively confiscated by the government will be one more reason to build the next factory in a foreign country. The U.S. government won’t be able to sue to prevent the startup of production in Mexico, Canada, China, etc.

For a Chinese investor, for example, contemplating investing in the U.S., imagine the impact of the story. The Chinese investor has no political influence in the U.S., a tenuous grasp of American geography and language, and no hope of getting the ear of politicians who take calls every week from Boeing and its lobbyists. Given the vicissitudes of American politics and this unpredictable aggression against investors by government, the Chinese businessman is not going to finance the U.S. project …

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