By Karen Freifeld and Andrea Shalal
(Reuters) – Two U.S. senators are pursuing a legislative plan to track U.S. investment in China Long-term action: Investment in certain highly targeted industries will also be restricted.
The Foreign Investment Transparency Act, introduced Thursday night as an amendment to the defense bill, is the latest bipartisan piece of legislation introduced by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican John Cornyn, Designed to Address Risks of U.S. Investments
Unlike the unsuccessful version proposed by Senators in , the latest measure requires notification of certain foreign investments rather than Censorship or prohibition of certain transactions, with fewer targeted industries.
“For reasons of national and economic security, we need a deeper understanding of which of our nation’s critical technological capabilities have been transferred overseas and at what scale,” Casey said in a statement .
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is finalizing an executive order that would also limit certain investments in areas such as advanced semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aim of the move was to complete legal and other reviews of the foreign investment order by Labor Day.
“We are working hard,” the official said. “The pace of the meeting has definitely picked up.”
The White House did not comment.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at the end of four meetings on Sunday that during a one-day trip to China, she discussed the proposed order with her Chinese counterparts and said any investment restrictions Both will be “highly targeted and explicitly targeted to a small number of industries where we have specific national security concerns.”
She said the order would be enacted in a transparent manner through a rulemaking process that allows for public participation.
Reuters reported in February that the proposed order could track restrictions imposed on Chinese exports of technology such as artificial intelligence chips, chip-making tools and supercomputers in October. The order has been repeatedly delayed and notifications are expected to be required for a large number of transactions.
The senator’s proposed legislation was tabled as an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act.
While U.S. House representatives passed their version of the National Defense Authorization Act on Friday, they did so after Republicans added a series of culturally conservative amendments. , its likelihood of becoming law is uncertain.
Senate debate on the version of the bill it must pass is scheduled to begin Tuesday. The final measure must then be hammered out before it goes to President Joe Biden for approval or veto.
