A new executive order (“EO”) signed by President Biden on June 3, 2021, amends existing prohibitions on US investments in companies that the US government has determined support the military of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”). The EO, Executive Order 14032, builds on the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13959, signed by President Trump in November 2020, regarding threats from China’s military-industrial complex (see our previous Legal Update) and broadens it to include threats from the “use of Chinese surveillance technology outside the PRC and the development or use of Chinese surveillance technology to facilitate repression and serious human rights abuses.”
The new executive order prohibits US investment in the publicly traded securities of the targeted companies. This Legal Update summarizes key aspects of Executive Order 14032, including what has changed and what has stayed the same from Executive Order 13959.