Foreign investment in US surges to $232 billion after four years of declines

Foreign investment in the US jumped in 2025 after falling for four years in a row, a possible result of companies rushing to minimize exposure to President Trump’s tariffs.International investors spent $232.2 billion in the US last year, mostly to acquire American businesses – a 49.5% jump from the previous year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Wednesday.Employment at newly-acquired or expanded foreign-owned businesses in the US accounted for 213,100 jobs, according to the data.“Part of it is going to be because of the tariff impact,” Luke Tilley, chief economist for M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors, told The Post. “There is going to be a natural reaction to wanting to be domiciled in the US,” Tilley said.“There are some advantages in terms of the amount of tariffs you want to pay.”It was also a favorable spending environment for foreign investors, since the US dollar was weaker throughout much of 2025, giving many countries a beneficial exchange rate, Tilley said.The largest chunk of new direct investments – $50.7 billion – went toward publishing industries, according to the BEA.Publishing includes newspaper, periodical and book publishers, which brought in $2 million – and software publishers, which raked in the rest of the $50.7 billion.“The AI trade is absolutely impacting all investment data, whether we’re talking about foreign direct investment here or the investment in data centers,” Tilley told The Post.After publishing industries, chemicals manufacturing and plastics and rubber products manufacturing saw the next largest investments, at $45.4 billion and $19 billion, respectively.

Manufacturing industries saw a combined $121.8 billion in new foreign investments.The BEA’s survey respondents are kept confidential by law, so it is unclear which specific investments helped drive the boom, according to the agency.The White House has touted several multi-billion dollar commitments in US manufacturing as a ...