Exon-Florio Provision

Nothing to do with the Exxon Valdez. Way sadder story, there.

Exon-Florio actually sounds like part of a 19th century treaty between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian empire. But the Exon-Florio Provision relates to U.S. foreign trade.

The rule gives the U.S. government the ability to halt a foreign company from buying a U.S. company. If the federal government deems the firm's assets important for national security (say, the owner of a key port, or a military contractor), it can block the sale.

Congress enacted the provision in 1988 after what would turn out to be overblown hype surrounding a string of deals that saw Japanese companies buy U.S. assets (see: the premise for the movie Die Hard, and also the new name of the Kervorkian-sponsored upgrade to Viagra).

The law is named after its key Congressional sponsors, Senator J. James Exon from Nebraska and Representative James J. Florio from New Jersey. If they had asked us, we'd have named it the J. James/James J. Provision...but nobody asked us.