{"slug": "the-u-s-treasury-wants-expanded-restrictions-on-high-tech-investments-to-these", "title": "The U.S. Treasury wants expanded restrictions on high-tech investments to these ‘countries of concern’", "summary": "The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday proposed a rule expanding outbound investment restrictions to cover U.S. capital flowing into hypersonic systems, supercomputing, biotechnology and artificial intelligence — which Treasury called \"superintelligence\" or SI — in China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran and other \"countries of concern.\" The proposal implements the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act, which Congress passed in December 2025 to codify and broaden the Outbound Investment Security Program that began with then-President Joe Biden's 2023 executive order on semiconductors, quantum computing and AI. The rule would apply only to investments exceeding $50,000 and exclude many financial investments including stock purchases; Treasury will take public comments before issuing a final rule, and WilmerHale partner Jason Chipman said it \"will require more substantial compliance programs to manage risk.", "body_md": "[The U.S. Treasury Department](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/u-s-treasury) proposed a rule Thursday to crack down on American high-tech investments such as [supercomputing](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/supercomputing) and [artificial intelligence](https://www.fastcompany.com/91609547/global-ai-safety-hinging-u-s-china-cooperation-except-they-see-each-other-problem) [in China](https://www.fastcompany.com/91626740/u-s-bans-ai-startup-deepseek-government-systems-china-responds), [Russia](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/russia), [North Korea](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/north-korea) and other “countries of concern.”\n\nThe U.S. government has been working for years to deny China and other adversaries investments that could help them boost their [military power](https://www.fastcompany.com/91551598/pentagon-pushing-ai-battlefield-top-military-leader-urging-caution).\n\nThat program began in 2023 when then-President [Joe Biden](https://www.fastcompany.com/91259306/why-biden-administration-proposing-new-rules-exporting-ai-chips) signed an executive order putting [restrictions on outbound U.S. investments](https://www.fastcompany.com/91238673/biden-administration-announces-new-restrictions-chinas-chipmakers) in sectors such as [semiconductors](https://www.fastcompany.com/91354557/texas-instruments-60-billion-chip-pledge), quantum computing and [artificial intelligence](https://www.fastcompany.com/91577359/why-u-s-ai-companies-cant-match-chinas-open-weight-frontier-models) going into China. Treasury later established the Outbound Investment Security Program.\n\nIn December 2025, Congress passed a law that codified and expanded the program to target more technologies and more foreign countries, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia.\n\nThe inclusion of Russia in the proposed rule has come days after President Donald Trump waived sanctions on Russia following a diesel deal with [President Vladimir Putin](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/vladimir-putin).\n\nThe rule announced Thursday would expand the restrictions to cover investments in hypersonic systems capable of traveling at five times the speed of sound, supercomputing, biotechnology and [artificial intelligence](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/artificial-intelligence), though Treasury used [Trump’s favored term for AI](https://www.fastcompany.com/91623604/trumps-new-super-intelligence-website-is-a-rebrand-fail), [“superintelligence”](https://www.fastcompany.com/91618225/trump-announc-new-super-intelligence-force-lead-federal-efforts-ai) or SI.\n\nThe proposed rule “sends an important signal to markets that Washington is tracking where U.S. capital is flowing and what capabilities it is helping build,” said Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.\n\nThe screening of outbound investments “recognizes that capital can accelerate military-relevant capabilities just as surely as technology transfer can,” Singleton said.\n\nJason Chipman, a former Justice Department lawyer who specializes in cybersecurity, investment rules and export controls as a partner at the law firm WilmerHale, said the new rule “will require more substantial compliance programs to manage risk.”\n\nTreasury’s rule to implement the 2025 law — the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act — would only apply to investments that exceed $50,000 and would exclude many financial investments, including stock purchases.\n\nTreasury will hear public comments on the proposal before issuing a final rule.\n\n“It’s just the first step in a fairly long process to get to changes which presumably will be more enforcement-minded, to put more teeth behind the outbound investment program,” said former U.S. trade official Ryan Majerus, now a partner at King & Spalding law firm.\n\nIn Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the U.S. should abide by the principles of a market economy and stop interfering in normal economic and trade cooperation between businesses.\n\nAsked about Washington’s proposal to add biotechnology to the list, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that “Overstretching the concept of national security, taking discriminatory measures against specific countries, and artificially restricting trade, economic and investment activities serve no one’s interests.”\n\nShe added that China will closely monitor relevant developments and take necessary measures to safeguard its interests.\n\nSince Trump’s first term, the United States and China — the world’s two biggest economies — have been locked in an economic and tech rivalry. They’ve restricted the export of sensitive technology and critical products — such as China’s rare earth minerals and America’s advanced computer chips — to each other and slapped tariffs on each other’s products. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed last year to ease tensions while they engaged in talks, a temporary truce they last month extended into January.\n\nBut the sparring continues. In July, the Treasury Department issued a $200,000 fine against a U.S.-based company for failing to report to the department a $92,500 investment in a Chinese artificial intelligence and robotics company by one of its subsidiaries.\n\n*—Paul Wiseman and Didi Tang, Associated Press*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-u-s-treasury-wants-expanded-restrictions-on-high-tech-investments-to-these", "canonical_source": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91629009/u-s-treasury-wants-expanded-restrictions-high-tech-investments-countries-concern", "published_at": "2026-10-23 16:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-23 16:44:01.831336+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["U.S. Treasury Department", "China", "Russia", "North Korea", "Cuba", "Iran", "Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act", "Craig Singleton"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-u-s-treasury-wants-expanded-restrictions-on-high-tech-investments-to-these", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-u-s-treasury-wants-expanded-restrictions-on-high-tech-investments-to-these.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-u-s-treasury-wants-expanded-restrictions-on-high-tech-investments-to-these.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-u-s-treasury-wants-expanded-restrictions-on-high-tech-investments-to-these.jsonld"}}