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On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would significantly expand the scope and enforcement of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA), which requires foreign persons who acquire, transfer, or hold interests in U.S. agricultural land to report those transactions and holdings to USDA. The Proposed Rule would broaden what qualifies as “agricultural land,” lower the ownership thresholds that trigger reporting, impose a new tiered penalty structure with heightened consequences for foreign adversaries, and transfer oversight of the program to USDA’s Office of Homeland Security (OHS), reflecting a broader shift in the U.S. government’s treatment of AFIDA as a national security tool rather than a purely agricultural data-collection exercise. The Proposed Rule follows a December 2025 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and is informed by recommendations from a 2024 Government Accountability Office review, congressional directives in recent appropriations legislation, including a requirement that USDA share AFIDA data with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to support reviews of transactions that may raise national security concerns, and principles articulated in USDA’s 2025 National Farm Security Action Plan.

Continue Reading U.S. Department of Agriculture Takes Next Step to Modernize AFIDA Filing Requirements and Strengthen Enforcement

The Cleary Gottlieb CFIUS team submitted a comment on March 18, 2026 in response to the Request for Information (RFI) issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), as chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), regarding a new Known Investor Program and ways to make CFIUS’s foreign investment review process more efficient. The comment is available here. Drawing on our experience advising foreign investors and U.S. businesses across a wide range of investor profiles, transaction structures, and industry sectors, we offer practical, experience-based observations aimed at assisting CFIUS in developing the Known Investor Program into a workable, broadly available program that fosters foreign direct investment into the United States while protecting national security. Our comments are offered in the spirit of the RFI’s stated goals of increasing efficiencies in the CFIUS process to facilitate investment from allies and partners while preserving the rigor of the national security review.[1]

Continue Reading Cleary Gottlieb Comments on CFIUS Known Investor Program and Process Streamlining

For more insights and analysis from Cleary lawyers on policy and regulatory developments from a legal perspective, visit What to Expect From a Second Trump Administration.

On February 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enforce a presidential order (the “Order”) requiring a Chinese company, Suirui Group Co., Ltd., and its Hong Kong subsidiary, Suirui International Co., Limited (collectively, “Suirui”), to divest their interest and rights in Jupiter Systems, LLC (“Jupiter”), a California-based company specializing in video processing technology.

Continue Reading DOJ Files First-Ever Complaint to Enforce CFIUS Divestment Order Against Suirui Group Co., Ltd.

On February 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”), as chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), issued a Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking public input on a new Known Investor Program and ways to make CFIUS’s review process more efficient.[1]  Stakeholders have until March 18, 2026 to submit comments regarding how CFIUS can streamline its foreign investment review process while maintaining a rigorous national security analysis.

Continue Reading Treasury Seeks Public Input on CFIUS Known Investor Program and Additional Process Efficiencies

For more insights and analysis from Cleary lawyers on policy and regulatory developments from a legal perspective, visit What to Expect From a Second Trump Administration.

On January 2, 2026, President Trump issued an order (the “Order”) prohibiting HieFo Corporation (“HieFo”), a Delaware company, from maintaining ownership of digital chip and wafer-related assets (including a semiconductor manufacturing facility) that HieFo acquired from EMCORE Corporation (“EMCORE”). HieFo acquired the assets in April 2024 for $2.92 million, and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) subsequently reviewed the transaction.

Continue Reading President Trump Issues Order Requiring Hiefo Corporation to Divest Ownership of Digital Chip and Wafer-related Assets

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or the “Committee”) recently published its 2024 Annual Report, which provides information regarding transactions reviewed by CFIUS during 2024.[1] Key takeaways from the 2024 Annual Report are below.   

Continue Reading CFIUS Releases 2024 Annual Report: Key Takeaways

For more insights and analysis from Cleary lawyers on policy and regulatory developments from a legal perspective, visit What to Expect From a Second Trump Administration.

On July 8, 2025, President Trump issued an order (the “Order”) requiring a Chinese company, Suirui Group Co., Ltd., and its Hong Kong subsidiary, Suirui International Co., Limited (collectively, “Suirui”), to divest its interest and rights in Jupiter Systems, LLC (“Jupiter”), a California-based company specializing in video processing technology.

Continue Reading President Trump Issues Order Requiring Chinese Company to Divest Interest in U.S. Video Processing Technology Company

On January 3, 2025, President Biden issued an executive order (the “Order”) prohibiting the proposed acquisition of United States Steel Corporation (“U.S. Steel”) by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corporation (“Nippon Steel”) on the basis that the transaction could threaten to impair the national security of the United States (the “Order”).  The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) referred the transaction to the President on December 23, 2024.    

Continue Reading President Biden Issues Order Blocking the Proposed Acquisition of United States Steel Corporation by Nippon Steel Corporation, and The Parties Sue for a New Review

On November 18, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”), as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”) that enhances CFIUS’s mitigation and enforcement authority.  The Final Rule, which will take effect December 26, 2024 (30 days after the Final Rule was published in the Federal Register), represents a continued evolution of CFIUS’s approach to monitoring, compliance, and enforcement and largely is consistent with the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) issued on April 11, 2024, which we wrote about here.  We previously wrote about the first-ever 2022 CFIUS Enforcement and Penalty Guidelines here.

Continue Reading Treasury Issues Final Rule Enhancing CFIUS Mitigation and Enforcement Authority