Written by David Shepherdson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday that rules implementing restrictions on U.S. investment in China are expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
In August, President Joe Biden issued an executive order authorizing the Treasury secretary to ban or limit U.S. investment in Chinese companies in three areas: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technology, and certain artificial intelligence systems.
Raimondo told a U.S. House hearing that he expects the Treasury Department to finalize the rules by the end of 2024. The Commerce Department said it is “helping us understand which parts of AI we should be most concerned about and which types of companies should be most concerned about.” ”
Biden’s order is aimed at blocking U.S. funding and expertise from supporting technology development that could aid China’s military modernization. “We can’t let them have our money and our know-how,” Raimondo said.
China has condemned the move, but some U.S. lawmakers say there are too many loopholes. Some U.S. officials say foreign investment rules should not be overly broad to avoid harming the U.S. economy. Others, including former Biden administration officials, said the bill is a good first step but that Congress should provide resources to expand it.
Raimondo said she has formed a team to study the foreign investment industry and is seeking $5 million. “When we talk about quantum, what does that actually mean? We’re offering something like the commercial, industrial and technological know-how that rivals the financial know-how of the Treasury Department.” said Raimondo.
He said Commerce is working on tracking its investments and may need to purchase datasets and IT systems.
“The kinds of investments we’re talking about aren’t from public stock market companies. They’re private funds, and they’re hard to track frankly. So we and our allies All the data that we have access to to track these kinds of private investments is very important,” Raimondo said.
(Reporting by David Shepherdson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
