Senate Democrats Push to Preserve China Investment Restrictions During Trade Talks
Twelve Senate Democrats urged President Donald Trump Oct. 29 not to ease U.S. restrictions on inbound or outbound investment as part of a potential trade deal with China this week.
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Led by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the letter calls for rejecting China’s efforts to relax national security restrictions on its investment in the U.S. Trump should "not lift security protections or hamper the vital work of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in a push for a deal" to end the U.S.-China trade war, the senators wrote.
The letter also encourages Trump to protect the Treasury Department’s new program restricting U.S. investment in China. "This program was designed to ensure that U.S. firms do not contribute to the development of sensitive technologies in countries of concern, and the Treasury Department must be directed to aggressively implement that program," the senators wrote.
The letter suggests that Trump has already made significant concessions to China, including by deciding in July to allow Nvidia to sell its previously restricted advanced H20 AI chips to China (see 2507150013). Trump administration officials have said the U.S. offered to remove export controls on the H20 in exchange for China loosening export restrictions on rare earth magnets (see 2507230022).