The Treasury Department has drafted a proposed rule that could lead to new outbound investment restrictions and notification requirements on deals involving China. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for interagency review June 5, would build on the advance notice of proposed rulemaking issued by Treasury in August, which requested public comments on potential requirements for U.S. investments in China's quantum technology, artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries (see 2308090066). Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in May that the administration hopes to finalize the new rules by the end of this year (see 2405080039).

TikTok last week denied a Reuters report that it's developing an operationally independent U.S. version of the social media application that Chinese parent company ByteDance could then sell to a non-Chinese owner.

U.S. lawmakers should finish pending legislation to restrict outbound investment to China so it doesn't leave the job of controlling such capital flows solely to the executive branch, a congressionally mandated commission heard last week.

China-based Borqs Technologies said it completed its divestment of Hawaii-based energy storage system company Holu Hou Energy (HHE) about two years after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. ordered it to do so.

A "snapshot" report just released by the Government Accountability Office reminded Congress that the GAO has studied -- and made recommendations -- on many aspects of how to manage economic competition with China, including providing more resources to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, improving information sharing with companies to keep more counterfeits out of U.S. commerce, and improving the tariff exclusions process for steel and aluminum imports.

President Joe Biden signed into law April 24 a wide-ranging national security bill that will, among other things, ban TikTok in the U.S. if China’s ByteDance doesn't sell the popular social media application to an entity that isn’t controlled by a foreign adversary (see 2404220041 and 2404180020).

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. should document its processes for reaching consensus on enforcement actions and determining whether to terminate outdated mitigation agreements, the Government Accountability Office said April 18.

The Treasury Department is accepting public comments until May 15 on a proposed rule that could allow the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to impose higher max penalties for certain violations, collect a broader range of information from parties involved in non-notified transactions, give the committee broader subpoena abilities, expand the circumstances in which it may fine a company, and more.

U.S. Steel Corp. stockholders April 12 approved the proposed acquisition of the company by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp., brushing aside White House and congressional opposition to the $14.9 billion deal.

Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp. indicated in a statement March 15 that it has no plans to cancel its proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel Corp. despite President Joe Biden’s newly announced opposition to the $14.9 billion deal (see 2403140049).