President Lets Congress Take Lead on Foreign Investment Restrictions

The administration said it will wait for Congress to pass the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, an update to current laws on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States rather than making its own restrictions on Chinese investment in American firms. As part of the Section 301 investigation, the treasury secretary was supposed to make recommendations on restrictions by June 30. President Donald Trump announced June 27, "I have concluded that [FIRRMA] legislation will provide additional tools to combat the predatory investment practices that threaten our critical technology leadership, national security, and future economic prosperity."

There was a question as to whether the administration's actions under Section 301 could expand the export control regime. In the announcement, Trump said he asked Commerce "to lead an examination of issues related to the transfer and export of critical technologies. Through this review, we will assess our Nation’s export controls and make any modifications that may be needed to strengthen them to defend our national security and technological leadership." FIRRMA asks Commerce to look at emerging technologies to determine if any of them belong on an export control list. The House passed FIRRMA 400-2 on June 26.