The Biden administration’s proposal to impose new restrictions on U.S. investment in certain Chinese technology sectors is a complex undertaking that will be difficult to implement, a former Treasury Department official said on Jan. 30.

The Government Accountability Office announced on Jan. 23 that it has published a restricted report, “Foreign Investment in the U.S.: Efforts to Mitigate National Security Risks Can Be Strengthened.”

USDA needs to improve how it collects, tracks and shares information on foreign investment in U.S. farmland, the Government Accountability Office wrote in a report released on Jan. 18.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Jan. 18 that he remains committed to passing two China-related investment measures that failed to become law last year.

A congressional proposal to allow the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to reopen or alter previously mitigated transactions when national security risks have increased would discourage foreign investment in the United States, an expert at the Center for a New American Security said in written comments posted Jan. 4.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is adding staff and becoming more active amid growing concern about China, Dechert said in a client alert.

U.S. Steel Corp. and Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., which recently agreed to a merger, plan to ask the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review their proposed deal, U.S. Steel said on Dec. 21.

At least seven Democratic and Republican lawmakers are urging the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to oppose or scrutinize the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel Corp by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp., saying the $14.9 billion deal raises serious economic and national security concerns.

Israel-based Nice and U.S.-based LiveVox Holdings, two software and technology companies that provide artificial intelligence-related products, submitted a voluntary filing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. ahead of their proposed combination, Squire Patton said in a November client alert. In an SEC filing, the companies said CFIUS must approve their transaction before it can be completed.

Eighteen U.S. outbound investment deals in China were announced through the first three quarters of 2023, down 10% from the same period last year and about 75% compared with 2021, White & Case said in a November client alert. The firm said global investment flows are increasingly rerouting to Southeast Asian countries instead of China, such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, while U.S. investors are specifically choosing to target South Korea and Japan. Through the first three quarters of this year, U.S. dealmakers have targeted 16 South Korean and 23 Japanese assets, the first time since 2016 that the number of U.S. investments in Japan has surpassed those in China, the firm said.