US Delays Enforcement of Investment Ban on 44 Chinese Blacklisted Companies by 4 Months

President Joe Biden of the United States [Image source= AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The new U.S. administration under Joe Biden has delayed the implementation of the executive order banning investments in Chinese companies, which was signed by former President Donald Trump, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on the 29th (local time).

Former President Trump signed an executive order last November prohibiting investments in Chinese companies related to the military sector. According to that decision, investments in the 44 companies listed on the investment ban list were originally scheduled to be prohibited starting from the 28th. Investors holding shares in the 44 blacklisted companies were required to divest all their holdings by November 11.

However, on that day, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced new guidelines, stating that the implementation date of the executive order signed by Trump would be postponed by about four months to May 27.

The companies subject to the investment ban include the Chinese state-owned oil company China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi, and China's largest semiconductor company SMIC (中芯國際, Zhongxin Guoji). China Mobile and China Unicom were also added to the investment ban list, putting them at risk of forced delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.

These telecommunications companies immediately requested the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the day of Joe Biden's inauguration to reconsider their delisting and allow trading to continue until the Biden administration completes its review.

The South China Morning Post reported that White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently stated that the Biden administration would review the Trump administration's China-related policies from multiple angles, and predicted that President Biden would be less aggressive toward China compared to Trump, who had driven U.S.-China relations to their worst.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.