Executive Order 14105 (2023)

Executive Order 14105 (2023), "Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern," signed on 9 August 2023, is the United States authority establishing that country's first dedicated outbound investment screening regime: it directs the Treasury to prohibit or require notification of US persons' investments in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence in countries of concern, centrally China. It is the legal foundation of the instrument treated at Outbound investment screening, routinely described as "reverse CFIUS".

Provisions

The order declares a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (1977) over the advancement of adversary military, intelligence, and surveillance capabilities through sensitive technologies, and identifies the exploitation of US investment, with its accompanying intangible benefits, as part of the threat. The implementing rule, issued by the Treasury Office of Investment Security as a final rule on 28 October 2024, published in the Federal Register in November 2024 and effective 2 January 2025, defines two tiers: prohibited transactions, covering investments in the most sensitive segments such as advanced-node semiconductors and AI systems designed for military or surveillance end uses, and notifiable transactions in a wider band of the covered sectors. Covered transaction classes include acquisitions, greenfield investments, venture and growth capital, joint ventures, and certain limited-partner fund commitments; China, including Hong Kong and Macau, is the designated country of concern.

Trigger and procedure

Obligations attach to the US person making the investment, not to the target: the investor must conduct due diligence on whether a transaction is covered, refrain from prohibited classes, and notify the Treasury of notifiable ones, with civil penalties and divestment orders for breach. The 2024 final rule defines transaction categories rather than a general pre-clearance process. It also contains excepted transactions in section 850.501 and a case-specific national-interest exemption in section 850.502. The absence of a general licensing gate should not be read as the absence of all individual exemptions. 2024 final rule, sections 850.501 and 850.502.

Employment history

The order forms one part of an investment-control framework with separate inbound and securities authorities. Its scope is defined by covered persons, activities and transactions, together with exceptions. The 2024 final rule excepts specified publicly traded securities and certain fund, derivative, intracompany and other transactions under stated conditions. It therefore does not close all US direct investment in China, and it should not be described as completing a comprehensive capital blockade. This is a reading of the adopted 2024 rule, not a claim that every later amendment or allied regime has been reviewed.

Effects

The order's stated rationale concerns intangible benefits accompanying investment, including managerial assistance, networks, standing and access to further finance. Those are the executive's declared reasons for intervention. The order and rule do not demonstrate that every covered transaction transfers those benefits, that alternative capital replaces them without capability cost, or that the policy has achieved its intended effect. Those propositions require separate empirical evidence. The scope and effects should be evaluated separately, without assuming an inevitable path towards general financial decoupling. Executive Order 14105, preamble and section 1; 2024 final rule, sections 850.501 to 850.503.

See also

Outbound investment screening · Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) · FIRRMA (2018) · Executive Order 13959 (2020) · Treasury Office of Investment Security · Technology denial · Economic security as national security · Economic statecraft

Sources

• Executive Order 14105, accessed 30 July 2026.
• Treasury final rule, accessed 30 July 2026.
• Treasury outbound-investment programme, accessed 30 July 2026.
• 31 CFR part 850, accessed 30 July 2026.

• President of the United States, Executive Order 14105 of 9 August 2023, Federal Register 88 (11 August 2023): 54867-54871, preamble and section 1.
• United States Department of the Treasury, Provisions Pertaining to U.S. Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern, Federal Register 89 (15 November 2024): 90398-90473, sections 850.501 to 850.503. Original full text retained for the bounded comparison; current-law and whole-entry review remain open.