On Friday, February 21st, President Trump issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) that is aimed at promoting foreign investment while protecting America’s national security interests, particularly from threats posed by foreign adversaries like the People’s Republic of China. Notably, the NSPM announces the following:
- The planned creation a “fast-track” process to facilitate greater investment from specified allies and partners, with conditions that prevent investors from partnering with our foreign adversaries in corresponding areas. The NSPM also signals expedited environmental reviews for any investment over $1 billion.
- The intent to use all legal means, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), to restrict Chinese investments in certain U.S. sectors like technology, critical infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, energy, raw materials, and others.
- The intent to work with Congress to strengthen CFIUS authority over “greenfield” investments, to restrict foreign adversary access to operations in sensitive technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), and to expand the remit of “emerging and foundational” technologies that are addressable by CFIUS.
- Cessation of the use of overly bureaucratic, complex, and open-ended “mitigation” agreements for United States investments from foreign adversary countries. According to the NSPM, future CFIUS mitigation agreements should consist of concrete actions that companies can complete within a specific time, rather than perpetual and expensive compliance obligations.
- Consider new or expanded restrictions on U.S. outbound investment to China in sensitive technologies, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum, biotechnology, aerospace, and more, to stop American funds from supporting China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy.
The White House also released a fact sheet summarizing the NSPM.