By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump will sign a memorandum on Friday that will direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to restrict Chinese investments in strategic areas, a White House official said.
The national security memorandum is aimed at promoting foreign investment while protecting U.S. national security interests from threats posed by foreign adversaries like China, the official told Reuters.
“China is exploiting our capital and ingenuity to fund and modernize their military, intelligence, and security operations, posing direct threats to United States security with weapons of mass destruction, cyber warfare, and more,” the official said.
Under the directive, the United States will establish new rules “to curb the exploitation of its capital, technology, and knowledge by foreign adversaries such as China to ensure that only those investments that serve American interests are allowed,” the official said.
The official also said the Trump administration will consider new or expanded restrictions on U.S. outbound investment to China in sensitive technologies, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum, biotechnology, aerospace and more.
(Reporting By Steve Holland, Editing by Franklin Paul and Alistair Bell)