Lawmakers Renew Bill to Bar Retirement Plan Investments in Chinese Firms
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., reintroduced a bill March 11 to prohibit most private-sector retirement plans from investing in companies based in “foreign adversary” countries, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The Protecting Americans’ Retirement Savings Act, or PARSA, “aligns” with a Feb. 21 memo on President Donald Trump’s “America First Investment Policy,” which, among other things, seeks to reduce pension plan investments in foreign adversary companies (see 2502240051), according to a Banks press release.
“Many Americans’ retirement plans wrongly fund the militaries of our adversaries or foreign companies that aid in human rights abuses,” Banks said. “My bill would prevent these misguided investments and guarantee that Wall Street execs aren’t bankrolling our adversaries with the retirement funds of hardworking Americans.”
The transaction restrictions would apply to future investments in retirement plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), including 401(k) plans, employer-provided pensions, deferred-compensation plans and profit-sharing plans. Existing investments would not be affected.
The bill also would require ERISA plan fiduciaries to report all assets invested in sanctioned entities, including their identities and the reasons for the sanctions. Other mandatory disclosures would include the total value of investments in foreign adversary companies, a detailed list of specific investments in these companies, and the justifications for retaining such investments.
The bill was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the House Education and Workforce Committee. Banks originally introduced the bill as a House member in 2023.