The proposed rule, which implements the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act passed in December 2025, would require U.S. persons and companies to report or, in some cases, obtain approval before making investments in specified technologies in targeted countries. It covers investments in hypersonic systems capable of traveling at five times the speed of sound, supercomputing, biotechnology and artificial intelligence, which the Treasury Department referred to as "superintelligence" or SI, using President Donald Trump's preferred term.
The rule would apply only to investments exceeding $50,000 and would exclude many financial transactions, including stock purchases. Treasury will hear public comments before issuing a final rule.
The expansion comes days after President Trump waived sanctions on Russia following a diesel deal with President Vladimir Putin. The inclusion of Russia in the proposed rule marks a notable extension of the program, which began in 2023 when then-President Joe Biden signed an executive order restricting outbound U.S. investments in semiconductors, quantum computing and AI going into China. Congress later expanded the program to cover more technologies and more foreign countries, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the 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," adding that the screening of outbound investments "recognizes that capital can accelerate military-relevant capabilities just as surely as technology transfer can."
Jason Chipman, a former Justice Department lawyer now at WilmerHale, said the rule "will require more substantial compliance programs to manage risk." Former U.S. trade official Ryan Majerus, now a partner at King & Spalding, described the proposal as "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."
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the U.S. should abide by the principles of a market economy and stop interfering in normal economic and trade cooperation. "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," she said, adding that China will take necessary measures to safeguard its interests.
The United States and China have been locked in an economic and tech rivalry since Trump's first term, restricting exports of sensitive technology and critical products and imposing tariffs on each other's goods. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed last year to ease tensions while talks continue, a temporary truce they extended into January. In July, Treasury issued a $200,000 fine against a U.S.-based company for failing to report a $92,500 investment in a Chinese AI and robotics company.