The U.S. Increases Banned Investment List for “Military-Related” Chinese Companies to 59, Including Huawei, Hikvision, and SMIC

On June 3, the White House and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department announced a new ban signed by the Biden administration restricting American investment in 59 Chinese companies, including companies such as Huawei, Hikvision, and SMIC. On the grounds of responding to the threat of Chinese military industrial enterprises, the order will take effect as of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on August 2.

This new ban is an extension to the Trump administration’s “blacklist of investments in China” last November. In November 2020, the Trump administration promulgated an investment ban on “Chinese military-related companies” and announced the first batch of 31 “blacklisted” companies. However, the varying interpretations of this ban had caused quite some confusion. Before President Trump stepped down, the list was expanded to 44 Chinese companies.