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On July 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, acting as CFIUS Chair, launched a redesigned, consolidated CFIUS website (CFIUS.gov) that centralizes previously dispersed guidance and introduces several new resources for transaction participants. Key features include an online pre-filing consultation portal integrated with CFIUS’s Case Management System, allowing parties to engage with staff at least five business days before submitting a declaration or notice; a public CFIUS Risk Matrix that outlines the Committee’s analytical framework across eight national security risk categories, including associated threats, vulnerabilities, consequences, and representative mitigation measures; and comprehensive filing process guidance that clarifies the declaration-versus-notice decision, identifies common causes of processing delays, and recommends voluntary supplemental materials to include with initial filings. The website also hosts dedicated initiative pages for the Known Investor Program, Investment Security Technology Initiative, and Strategic Vendor Program. Parties should incor

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CFIUS reviewed 347 filings in 2025 (207 notices, 140 declarations), a 7% increase over 2024, against a backdrop of surging global M&A ($3.13–$4.8 trillion) and a 49.5% jump in inbound FDI. The declaration clearance rate fell to ~66% (from ~78% in 2024), while requests to convert to full written notices climbed to ~26%—the highest in three years—meaning filers using the short-form path risk restarting the review clock. Mitigation was required in 15 transactions, with 234 agreements under active monitoring; new tools include the Known Investor Program, a pre-filing consultation function, and a July 2026 Risk Matrix flagging eight elevated-risk categories. No civil penalties were publicly announced, but two presidential actions—one enforcing divestment of Jupiter Systems via court-appointed receiver, another greenlighting the Nippon Steel/U.S. Steel deal—signal continued willingness to deploy hard remedies. Non-notified reviews remained active at 90 initiations. Deal teams should weigh declaration versus notice strategy, prepare for sector-specific scrutiny, and audit historical transac

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Following a Section 301 investigation into China's technology transfer and intellectual property practices, the White House on March 22, 2018, directed multiple agencies to take action. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) will impose an additional 25% ad valorem tariff on a list of Chinese products, set to include aerospace, information and communication technology, and machinery. The USTR will also pursue a case against China's licensing practices at the World Trade Organization. This development is critical for counsel advising clients with Chinese supply chains, as the tariffs will significantly raise import costs. Furthermore, the memorandum directs the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to address Chinese investment aimed at acquiring sensitive U.S. technologies, signaling a more challenging environment for inbound M&A. Affected importers should monitor the Federal Register for the finalized product list and prepare to substantiate country-of-origin claims for goods with multinational production histories.

The UK government has introduced the National Security & Investment Bill, which proposes a fundamental overhaul of the country's approach to screening foreign direct investment (FDI). If passed, the bill will establish a new standalone regulatory regime, moving authority from the Competition and Markets Authority to a new Investment Security Unit within the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

This represents a significant shift for investors, creating a framework more closely aligned with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The legislation introduces a hybrid notification system and a broad definition of "trigger events," which could include acquiring more than 15% of shares or votes, or gaining "material influence" over a company. The rules would also apply to non-UK entities that supply goods or services in the UK. This change will add a critical layer of regulatory risk and timing considerations for a wide range of corporate and M&A transactions involving UK assets, requiring dealmakers to build a new approval process into t

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Treasury's final rule, effective December 26, 2024, materially expands CFIUS's enforcement toolkit and the financial downside for foreign-investment deal teams. The committee can now issue information requests not only to transaction parties but also to unrelated third parties such as banks, underwriters, and service providers, and can do so even for non-notified transactions, closing a long-standing gap that let non-disclosing deals escape early scrutiny. CFIUS may also impose a minimum three-business-day deadline for parties to respond to mitigation proposals, with limited extensions, compressing the negotiation window during which national-security risk is resolved. Although the alert does not enumerate the new penalty caps in the excerpt provided, it characterizes the increases as significant and signals a clear intent to deter noncompliance with mandatory filings, mitigation agreements, and disclosure obligations. Sophisticated M&A, private-equity, and cross-border finance counsel should brief clients on tightening diligence around TID-target identification, pre-filing risk mapp

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On June 21, 2024, Treasury issued a long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking implementing Executive Order 14105, creating the Outbound Investment Security Program. The proposed rule applies to covered transactions by US persons involving covered foreign persons in the PRC (including Hong Kong and Macau) engaged in three sensitive-technology categories: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence. Triggered transactions include equity acquisitions, convertible or subordinated debt financing, greenfield investments, and certain joint ventures, plus indirect investments through entities more than 50 percent owned by a covered foreign person. Some transactions require notice to Treasury; others in subsectors deemed most sensitive—particularly certain advanced semiconductor and AI work—are outright prohibited. Sophisticated counsel and clients should map exposure, prepare comment letters, model fund and JV structures, and update CFIUS-style diligence for outbound China-tech exposure. Watch for the final rule, potential grandfatherin

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CFIUS's 2023 Annual Report to Congress, summarized by Duane Morris, shows the interagency committee reviewed 342 covered-transaction notices and declarations, opened inquiries into 60 non-notified transactions, and issued a record number of penalties. The article situates these figures alongside 2024 proposed rules that the authors read as portending expanded CFIUS reach and larger monetary exposure for non-compliance, including in TID U.S. businesses and covered real estate. FIRRMA remains the statutory backbone, with Treasury-led final rules in 2020 imposing mandatory filings for certain foreign-government-linked, 25%-plus investments in critical-technology, critical-infrastructure, or sensitive-data businesses; in March 2024, the Secretary of Agriculture was added to the committee for agricultural transactions. Sophisticated counsel should expect heightened enforcement risk on cross-border M&A and minority investments, renewed attention to non-notified transactions, and evolving compliance expectations. Watch for Treasury's finalization of the 2024 proposed rules, any expansion of

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Two House- and Senate-pending bills would require CFIUS to review foreign investments in U.S. agriculture, including farmland, layering a federal regime on top of existing FIRRMA real-estate authority. Treasury's November 1, 2024 final rule already expanded CFIUS coverage by adding dozens of military installations to the list of sensitive real-estate geographies, broadening non-notified review reach. Independently, states such as Florida have enacted restrictions on certain foreign nationals acquiring real property, with several of those laws facing constitutional challenges in court. Sophisticated counsel advising cross-border investors, REITs, agribusiness acquirers, and sovereign-wealth funds should map transaction footprints against both the federal installation radius lists and state-level ownership rules before signing. Watch for Senate action on the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act and state-court rulings on the constitutionality of the existing ownership bans.

On July 29, 2026, Treasury, as CFIUS chair, released a Risk Matrix cataloguing eight transaction profiles that pose elevated national security risk: critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, information security, personal data, product integrity, proximity to sensitive government sites, supply assurance, and technology transfer. For each profile, the matrix sets out the threat-vulnerability-consequence calculus under 31 C.F.R. § 800.102 and lists illustrative mitigation measures—governance restrictions, source-code reviews, third-party monitorships, segregation of protected technology, supply-continuation commitments, and CFIUS access and audit rights. The release aligns with the America First Investment Policy and a stated push to 'demystify' the process, but it also signals broader enforcement reach, including non-notified outreach. Counsel advising foreign investors, sponsors, and U.S. targets should map deal profiles against the matrix, weigh voluntary filings where risk indicators are present, and prepare for more standardized mitigation expectations rather than bespoke negotiatio

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The BakerHostetler alert outlines rising CFIUS scrutiny of foreign venture capital investments in U.S. defense technology firms, as the committee now classifies investor nationality and foreign government ties as core national security risks. Recent enforcement actions have blocked or conditioned deals involving non-U.S. backing for dual-use and military-focused tech startups. In-house counsel for defense tech companies should update investor due diligence protocols to include mandatory CFIUS pre-screening for all non-U.S. capital sources, document national security risk mitigation plans for pending investments, and align fundraising timelines with CFIUS review windows to avoid deal delays or cancellations.