US President Donald Trump signed a memo Friday calling for curbs on Chinese investments in strategic sectors like tech and critical infrastructure — including restrictions by a foreign investment review panel.
The move comes at a time of growing trade tensions and strategic competition between the world’s two biggest economies.
It is aimed at promoting foreign investment, while protecting US national security interests “particularly from threats posed by foreign adversaries” like China, the White House said.
In particular, the memo took aim at China for “increasingly exploiting United States capital to develop and modernise its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses.”
It called for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to be used to restrict Chinese investments in key US sectors such as technology, critical infrastructure, health care and energy.
CFIUS is a panel that weighs the national security implications of foreign investments in the United States. “President is keeping his promise to prevent foreign adversaries from taking advantage of the United States,” the White House said. afp