Treasury widens tech-investment screen to Russia days after Trump waives sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department proposed a rule on Thursday, October 22, 2026, that would widen restrictions on American high-tech investment in China, Russia, North Korea and other "countries of concern." The proposal would extend the Outbound Investment Security Program to cover additional technologies, including hypersonic systems, and additional destinations.

The program began in 2023, when then-President Joe Biden signed an executive order restricting outbound U.S. investment in semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence going into China. Treasury later established the Outbound Investment Security Program to administer those limits. In December 2025, Congress passed a law that codified the program and expanded it to target more technologies and more foreign countries, adding Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia to the list.

Thursday's proposal is the next step in that expansion. It would widen the set of technologies and destinations subject to restriction, affecting American investors and tech firms with exposure to China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba and Iran.

The timing of the Russia provision is the notable part. Its inclusion comes days after President Donald Trump waived sanctions on Russia following a diesel deal with President Vladimir Putin.

What the proposal does show is institutionalization. A screening regime that began as a single executive order in 2023 has now been written into law by Congress and is being extended by rule at Treasury. That makes the restrictions harder to unwind than an order that a future president could simply revoke, and it broadens their reach across both technologies and countries.

Several questions remain open. They do not give the investment thresholds or criteria that would trigger a restriction.