Free Trade

This should be interesting...

One of China's largest state-controlled oil companies made a $18.5 billion unsolicited bid for Unocal today, launching the first-ever big takeover battle by a Chinese company for an American corporation. The bold bid, by the China National Offshore Oil Corp., may be a watershed in Chinese corporate behavior, and it demonstrates the increasing influence of Wall Street's bare-knuckled hostile takeover tactics in Asia. The offer is also the latest symbol of China's growing economic clout and of the soaring ambitions of its corporate giants, particularly when it comes to the energy resources it needs desperately to continue feeding the nation's huge growth.

CNOOC's bid, which comes two months after Unocal agreed to be sold to Chevron for $16.4 billion, is expected to trigger a potentially costly bidding war over the California-based Unocal, a large independent American oil company. Moreover, the bid is likely to provoke a fierce debate in Washington, D.C., about the nation's trade policies with China and the role of the two governments in the growing trend of deal making between companies in both countries.

Wow.