Biden to Sign First-Ever EO to Guide CFIUS Reviews

President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order today to guide how the U.S. conducts national security reviews over inbound foreign direct investments. The order, which is the first to give formal presidential direction to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., will add “several national security factors” for CFIUS to consider when reviewing covered transactions and expand on the committee’s “existing statutory factors,” senior administration officials said during a Sept. 14 call with reporters. Biden will specifically direct CFIUS to consider a covered transaction's impact on critical U.S. supply chains, U.S. technological leadership (including for microelectronics and artificial intelligence), U.S. cybersecurity, personal sensitive data and more.

Administration officials said the order, which doesn’t expand or limit CFIUS’s legal authorities, is designed to “provide important focus” to the committee’s review functions. It also will help companies and foreign governments better understand the U.S.’s FDI screening priorities, the officials said. “By highlighting and sharpening the committee's focus on these evolving and emerging risks, the executive order will help guide the committee, and should also help businesses and investors that identify early on national security risks arising from transactions to determine whether to file with CFIUS,” an official said.