It can, when the U.S. enterprise is a real, active operating business rather than a passive holding. What matters is the commercial activity the company itself conducts — sales, distribution, customer service, product management — together with substantial committed at-risk capital, non-marginality, treaty nationality and at least fifty percent treaty ownership.
Describe activity, not just the product
Prepare a plain description of a working week: who prospects, who negotiates, who manages the manufacturer, who handles returns. Attach the contracts that make each activity real. If most functions sit with a third party and the U.S. entity mainly receives a margin, expect questions about whether the enterprise is genuinely operating. Adjust the structure while it is still on paper rather than defending a thin operation later.
Substantiality is proportional rather than a fixed dollar figure, and for the purchase of an established business the price paid is normally taken as the cost of acquisition. Negotiate the agreement with that in mind: reserved matters for the minority partner should be limited to genuine protections, and day-to-day direction and ordinary business decisions should rest with the majority. Establish the generally required at least 50% ownership by nationals of the relevant treaty country and review the principal’s actual eligibility and control.