After publicly signaling support for an outbound investment screening mechanism in July 2022, the Biden Administration has issued a long-anticipated Executive Order to address certain investments by US persons in “countries of concern.”

On August 9, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern (the EO). The stated objective of the EO, which was issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), is to address the national security threat posed by the advancement by countries of concern in sensitive technologies and products critical for the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities of such countries and to restrict certain US investments that may exacerbate this threat. The People’s Republic of China, together with the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, is the only “country of concern” currently listed in the Annex to the EO.