Biden Admin Drafting Guidance, Reworking Trump's Chinese Military Company Investment Ban, Official Says

The Biden administration plans to use its two-week postponement of the ban on investments in Chinese military companies (see 2105180049) to further clarify the Trump-era policy (see 2011130026) and draft guidance, according to a senior administration official. Although President Joe Biden plans to maintain the ban, officials are reviewing and reworking President Donald Trump’s November executive order that outlined the ban, which the official said was drafted and implemented in a “careless manner.”

The ban, which was scheduled to take effect this month but has caused some industry uncertainty, was pushed back to June 11 by the Treasury Department. The U.S. hopes the extension will allow it to fix the “structural issues” with Trump’s order and “establish sensible but strong policy,” the official said May 19. The person stressed the administration is “deeply concerned” about potential U.S. investments in companies connected to the Chinese military and is “fully committed” to maintaining pressure on those companies.

As part of its review and guidance, the administration wants to “establish the right policies and framework that maintain and strengthen our ability” to restrict U.S. investment in China’s military, intelligence and security agencies, the official said. “We will have more on the permanent way forward soon,” the official said, adding the U.S. is “determined to deal with this issue expeditiously.”

Officials plan to use the guidance, in part, to clarify how the investment ban applies to subsidiaries, Bloomberg reported May 18. Although the ban may take effect in June, the administration’s guidance won’t necessarily be published by then, the report said.