The U.S. Department of the Treasury proposed a rule on Thursday (October 22) to combat American high-tech investments in China (the Chinese Communist Party), Russia, North Korea, and other “concerning countries,” such as supercomputing and artificial intelligence.
The Treasury Department stated that the proposed rules do not ban investments in all countries of concern. Instead, they specifically target investments in dual-use technologies that could be used for military projects, surveillance, and human rights violations.
The plan originated in 2023 when President Biden signed an executive order restricting U.S. investments in areas such as semiconductors, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence in China. Subsequently, the Treasury Department established the Outbound Investment Security Program.
In December 2025, Congress passed the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act (COINS).
The Outbound Investment Security Program initially focused on China, but the COINS Act expanded the list of “countries of concern” to include China (including Macau and Hong Kong), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. (Due to the removal of former Venezuelan President Maduro from power, Venezuela is no longer included in the list this time.)
The law requires U.S. companies and individuals to report certain investment plans to the Treasury Department. In certain cases, the Treasury Department may prohibit certain types of investments to prevent harm to U.S. national security. The law also grants the Treasury Department the authority to add restricted industries as needed.
The regulations announced on Thursday include an additional field – biotechnology, in addition to the five areas specified in the legislation (advanced semiconductors and microelectronics, artificial intelligence systems, quantum information technology, high-performance computing and supercomputing, and hypersonic systems).
The Treasury Department will accept public comments on the proposed rules until December 7th.