Biden's new outbound investment restrictions with China are a sensible compromise, but further tightening is likely

Amid national security concerns over investment ties with China, the Biden administration announced on August 9 a new proposed regime to scrutinize and ban some US investments into China that could help Beijing develop military technology. The administration publicly eschews a broad “decoupling” agenda in favor of what it says is a more narrow “derisking” of ties with a “small yard, high fence” for controls. This latest announcement fits that strategy well. An overly broad regime could be disastrous, necessitating a ballooning bureaucracy and expansion of government power that would bog down…