China takes the number one spot for the most ‘new’ foreign direct investment in 2020

According to the latest UN figures, the Chinese economy attracted $163 billion in foreign direct investment last year. This 4% year-on-year increase is in contrast to the US economy’s 46% decline from $251 billion in 2019 to $134 billion in 2020.

Whilst the Chinese economy may have attracted the most new FDI last year, the US economy still dominates globally when it comes to the total level of foreign investments. This is largely due to being the most open and lucrative location in the last few decades for businesses looking to expand their operations overseas.

The tides of global investment are turning though, and experts are predicting that China is likely to attract more and more investment from overseas as they cement their position as an economic powerhouse on the world stage.

This comes in addition to the somewhat anti-globalist economic policies under the Trump administration of the last four years. Under his government there were wide-ranging policies which encouraged American firms to produce at home, whilst deterring overseas investors, particularly Chinese, from setting up in the US. Since FDI in the USA reached a high of $472 billion in 2016, it has fallen continuously in the years since.