Recent Developments in International Trade: New Executive Order on US Outbound Investments in Emerging Technology in China

On August 9, 2023, US President Joe Biden signed a long-awaited executive order (EO) establishing a framework for outbound US investments in emerging technologies in China. The EO subjects certain investments in semiconductors, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to new notification procedures or outright prohibition on direct or indirect outbound investments. However, the details about which technologies or products this new set of rules will affect, how it will happen, and other important questions, are still undecided—subject to future agency action and stakeholder input.

Join members of our International Trade and Public Policy teams as they break down and analyze the new EO; explain the newly launched comment process that will determine the details of this framework; and discuss how corporations, investors, and other stakeholders in the US and around the world should consider the EO and regulations as they make future investment decisions.

Also, for a unique perspective on these issues, we welcome special guest Tom Feddo, the first Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security from 2018 to January 2021. In that capacity, Tom led the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), overseeing security reviews of cross-border transactions totaling over US$400 billion. He later became a senior advisor at Patomak Global Partners, where he now serves.

Covering the following topics, this discussion will help senior leaders and decision makers understand the EO and its implications on US business, as well as providing a forecast of what can be expected going forward.

Topics to be covered will include:

• Scope – Overview of key concepts that will be integrated into the outbound investment regime and whether discussions on the regulations will spill into the ongoing congressional debate on outbound investment security.
• Implications – Assessing the risks for US companies investing in China, Hong Kong and Macau, or investment in Chinese controlled companies in other jurisdictions and how businesses should immediately take steps to manage compliance with the forthcoming requirements.
• Implementation – How the Treasury Department’s implementation plans and stakeholder comment period are expected to proceed in determining whether to prohibit or require notification concerning certain outbound investments.
• Future perspectives and strategies – Evaluating the views of Congress, US partners and allies, and other stakeholders, in shaping the ultimate form of the EO.