Trump orders new curbs on Chinese investments in strategic areas
A memo signed by the US president seeks to promote overseas investment while protecting US national security interests from foreign threats
The memorandum, titled “America First Investment Policy”, stated that the US would “use all necessary legal instruments”, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, to block China-affiliated investments in American “technology, critical infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, energy, raw materials, or other strategic sectors.”
An inter-agency committee led by the Treasury Department, CFIUS reviews foreign investments in the US for potential national security risks, and has been strengthened in recent years as US policymakers sought to address threats posed by China.
Friday’s memorandum said that investment “at all costs is not always in the national interest”, and asserted that China “systematically direct and facilitate investment in United States companies and assets to obtain cutting-edge technologies, intellectual property, and leverage in strategic industries”.
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Framing economic security as national security, the order emphasised that China was targeting the “crown jewels” of US technology, food supplies, farmland, minerals, natural resources, ports, and shipping terminals in “diverse ways, both visible and concealed”.