Experts Applaud Trump’s Stern Investment Memorandum on China

President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum Friday limiting investment by China in critical industries in the United States. The memorandum, “America First Investment Policy,” asserted that Chinese investment could be used for malevolent ends. 

Wilson Beaver, a policy adviser at the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, praised the move in a statement to The Daily Signal. 

“Chinese malign foreign influence in critical sectors of American industry is a national security problem that should have been tackled years ago. This move by the Trump administration is an absolutely necessary step to protect American industry and defense supply chains, which are both critical to protecting American prosperity and security,” Beaver said. 

Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, concurred, telling The Daily Signal that the policy change signaled that American reciprocity was back in style. 

“Reciprocity is a reemerging catchphrase born in Trump’s first term as president, and it is memorialized in his recent executive order—’America First Investment Policy’—but it goes further, focusing on attracting investment at home by our allies. Finally, and critically, investment by U.S. firms in Chinese industry that pose a national security concern will be aggressively pursued and curtailed,” Sadler said. 

That echoes what Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, said at an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday. 

“We’re done with allowing China to infiltrate critical strategic assets like the Panama Canal,” Waltz said. 

Trump’s executive action also drew praise from Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., who serves on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

“The Chinese Communist Party is working every day to replace the United States as the sole superpower on the world stage. As a member of the Select Committee on China, I have seen firsthand that the CCP will utilize any tool at its disposal to beat us economically, technologically, militarily, and diplomatically. I applaud President Trump and his national security team’s decision to protect U.S. national security and combat the CCP’s continued exploitation of investment in U.S. critical industries,” LaHood told The Daily Signal.

Bryan Burack, senior policy adviser at the Asian Studies Center of The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal that the move is part of a broader effort at making the U.S. less reliant on China. 

“President Trump’s America First Investment Policy is the most important strategic decoupling effort in a generation, and it follows through on his first administration’s work to restrict funding to Chinese military companies. For decades, a dogmatic and globalist approach to investment allowed China to leverage our own economy to hollow out our industries and develop its military and technological capabilities. President Trump is setting things right by underscoring the importance of our world-leading capital markets, but also ensuring that they serve America first, rather than our adversaries,” Burack told The Daily Signal.

“The new policy underscores simple truths that have been ignored for far too long: Economic security is national security. Investment is not in the national interest when it builds our adversaries’ military might. And it is wrong to help communist China buy out our heartland and dominate the technologies of the future,” Burack added.

“Some members of Congress have tried for years to stop such investments, but attempts at reform have repeatedly failed as Wall Street and [lobbyists] continue business as usual with China. President Trump’s new investment policy is a strong signal that his administration will take action and will expect Congress to contribute where legislation is necessary,” he said. 

In its principles and objectives section, the memorandum justified the president’s action by contending that the Chinese government uses its investments in the United States in attempts to increase its technological capabilities. 

“Certain foreign adversaries, including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), systematically direct and facilitate investment in United States companies and assets to obtain cutting-edge technologies, intellectual property, and leverage in strategic industries. The PRC pursues these strategies in diverse ways, both visible and concealed, and often through partner companies or investment funds in third countries,” the memorandum stated.

The memorandum announced that the Trump administration would “use all necessary legal instruments, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), to restrict PRC-affiliated persons from investing in United States technology, critical infrastructure, health care, agriculture, energy, raw materials, or other strategic sectors.”

The memorandum went on to promise to protect farmland and real estate near strategic areas. The defensive actions from the Trump administration come as the artificial intelligence arms race heats up between the U.S. and China. Last month, China released DeepSeek, a large language-learning model that astounded the world (and temporarily tanked the stock market) with its abilities.

Trump’s actions are an attempt to try to counteract unfair Chinese advantages.

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