US plans to restrict foreign investments in AI and biotech may curb China’s tech ambitions
- Commerce Department proposes to expand review of foreign merger and acquisition deals to emerging technology sectors
- New rules come as Trump administration increasingly regards China as primary national security threat
The US on Monday proposed new export restrictions on additional technology sectors considered crucial to national security, furthering the Trump administration’s campaign to crack down on intellectual property theft by foreign nations including China.
In a posting in the Federal Register, the Department of Commerce identified 14 categories of new technologies – among them biotech, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analytics and robotics – about to be subject to limits on investments by foreign entities.
“This proposed set of rules can potentially be a major change in the tech business,” said Richard Matheny III, a lawyer with the global trade group at the Goodwin Procter law firm in Washington.
“Many biotech companies, for example, that historically haven’t been subject to such controls will need to consider these restrictions, including when taking investments, collaborating with non-US persons on technology development, and exporting products.”
This proposed set of rules can potentially be a major change in the tech business
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on China to change its “unfair trade practices”, including what he calls the theft of US technologies, often through Chinese mergers and acquisitions of US companies.