CFIUS to Continue Enforcement Focus Under New Admin., Lead Official Says

The Treasury Department’s lead official for the Committee on the Foreign Investment in the U.S. expects the committee to continue much of its existing efforts under the incoming Trump administration, including by prioritizing enforcement and compliance with mitigation agreements.

Paul Rosen, Treasury’s assistant secretary for investment security, said even though “some of us will be departing our roles during this transition period,” he expects CFIUS career staff to “carry on with the same high caliber of professionalism and competence that you all have come to expect.”

“In doing so, I fully anticipate that the Committee will remain focused on promoting and enforcing compliance with our regulations and agreements, improving our efficiency, and honing our authorities to ensure the protection of national security, all the while creating a welcoming environment for foreign investment,” Rosen said during the third annual CFIUS conference this week, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.

He also said CFIUS has been particularly focused on identifying non-notified transactions -- transactions that aren’t voluntarily disclosed to the committee. He pointed to a final rule issued by Treasury earlier this week that, among other things, will allow CFIUS to collect a broader range of information from parties involved in non-notified transactions, including through subpoenas (see 2411180048).

Rosen said CFIUS “for the first time” this past year “utilized its subpoena authority in support of its national security mission.”

He also said the CFIUS non-notified team screens “thousands” of transactions and helped uncover national security concerns involving China’s MineOne, the cryptocurrency mining operation that was operating a mine near an Air Force base in Wyoming. President Joe Biden blocked the deal and ordered MineOne to sell its Wyoming property in May (see 2405130069).

Rosen said that deal “initially came to the Committee’s attention through our non-notified process after we received a tip from the public.”