$25 Billion: The Sprint and Smithfield Acquisitions Should Be Cleared (The Heritage Foundation)

(Source: The Heritage Foundation) Permitting the acquisitions of Sprint by Japan's SoftBank and Smithfield by China's Shuanghui is in America's national interest. Except for narrowly defined security reasons, the default position of the U.S. government should be to keep out of private-sector transactions. The Shuanghui-Smithfield deal is nothing more than one food company purchasing another; there are no national security implications. The appropriate government role is to monitor Smithfield after the acquisition is completed, to ensure the new ownership does not harm the company's ability to meet American health and safety regulations. The SoftBank bid is complicated by the ties Sprint and...