Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she would block all exports of sensitive technology to China and put in place new investment restrictions on Chinese purchases of agricultural land if she is elected to the White House. Haley, the former U.N. ambassador during the Trump administration who announced her 2024 presidential candidacy earlier this year, said President Joe Biden is “not up to the task” of protecting U.S. national security from risks posed by China and previewed several new policies that could cut off a range of trade between the two countries.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is open to working with lawmakers on a bill that could block China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from investing in American land or agricultural companies, said Paul Rosen, the head of CFIUS. While Rosen didn’t explicitly endorse the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security Act, suggesting that CFIUS would need more resources if its jurisdiction were broadened, he said the legislation raises valid concerns.

The Senate will work over the next several months to build a bill Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sees as a sequel to its China package -- also known as the Chips Act -- that could expand China-related export controls and investment restrictions.

Senators have enough bipartisan support to add the USDA secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and expand CFIUS jurisdiction to cover a broader range of agriculture-related purchases, lawmakers said this week. Several said the committee isn’t doing enough to prevent Chinese government-affiliated companies from purchasing U.S. land and want to expand its reach, particularly after CFIUS determined last year that it didn’t have the jurisdiction to intervene in a Chinese purchase of land near a North Dakota Air Force base.

A bipartisan bill could add the USDA secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and block China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from investing in American agricultural companies. The bill is aimed at “preventing foreign adversaries from taking any ownership or control of the United States’ agricultural land and agricultural businesses,” lawmakers said.

The U.S. may look to expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. after CFIUS determined it couldn’t intervene in China-based Fufeng Group's purchase of North Dakota farmland, law firms said this month. Congress could make a push to expand CFIUS next year, some firms suggested, especially after several lawmakers said the real estate transaction should have fallen under the committee's authority.

Only a small percentage of foreign real estate purchases are reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, but that may change given an uptick in concern, lawyers at Morgan Lewis said in an Aug. 29 blog post.

A new Senate bill would add USDA to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and broaden disclosure requirements for land purchases by foreign entities. The Security and Oversight of International Landholdings Act, set to be introduced by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., will “provide oversight and transparency of purchases of U.S. agricultural land that threaten national security,” the lawmaker said this month, and will require CFIUS reviews of “agriculture real estate purchases by certain foreign entities.” Other lawmakers also have proposed adding the agriculture secretary to CFIUS (see 2106010003).

Increasing Chinese investments in U.S. agriculture could reduce China’s need for American exports and give Beijing “undue leverage over U.S. supply chains,” the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a report last week. The U.S. may need to rethink or improve how it uses the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to better catch those investments, the commission said, which may be harming U.S. economic and national security.

The House voted 222-210 last week to pass its China competition bill, which includes a variety of provisions that could expand U.S. export controls, sanctions and investment screening authorities. Although the America Competes Act faced objections from Republicans who argued it wasn’t tough enough on China and didn’t include strong enough export control measures (see 2202020039), several provisions could lead to more China sanctions and further restrict exports of critical American technologies.