A new presidential order restricts Chinese investment in an array of industries, “including farming, food supplies, minerals, natural resources, shipping ports and technologies used to protect national security” (“Trump signs order using CFIUS to limit Chinese investment in national security sectors,” Washington Times, February 21, 2025).
CFIUS is the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States; its agencies “screen foreign investments in American companies for potential national security risks.”
According to President Trump’s memorandum:
Certain foreign adversaries, including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), systematically direct and facilitate investment in the United States companies and assets to obtain cutting-edge technologies, intellectual property, and leverage in strategic industries. The PRC pursues these strategies in diverse ways, both visible and concealed, and often through partner companies or investment funds in third countries….
The PRC does not allow United States companies to take over their critical infrastructure, and the United States should not allow the PRC to take over United States critical infrastructure….
The United States will use all necessary legal instruments, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), to restrict PRC-affiliated persons from investing in United States technology, critical infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, energy, raw materials, or other strategic sectors. My Administration will protect United States farmland and real estate near sensitive facilities. It will also seek, including in consultation with the Congress, to strengthen CFIUS authority over “greenfield” investments, to restrict foreign adversary access to United States talent and operations in sensitive technologies (especially artificial intelligence), and to expand the remit of “emerging and foundational” technologies addressable by CFIUS.
These mandates expand upon related presidential orders issued during the Biden administration and the first Trump administration.
Also see:
Whitehouse.gov: “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Issues Directive to Prevent the Unfair Exploitation of American Innovation”
Whitehouse.gov: “America First Investment Policy”
