A hallmark of President Trump\u2019s second term has been his penchant for negotiating economic deals with countries that pledge to invest trillions of dollars in the United States<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now pouring in from all parts of the world,\u201d Mr. Trump said during a speech last fall in which he boasted of nearly $20 trillion of foreign investment.<\/p>\n
The meetings this week between Mr. Trump and China\u2019s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing are expected to include talks over purchases of American farm products and planes and the possibility of expanding access for American companies into China\u2019s vast consumer market.<\/p>\n
There has also been speculation that Mr. Trump and his advisers are seeking a major investment from China. But such a pledge could be complicated by deep distrust in the United States toward Chinese firms, which many workers blame for the hollowing out of American manufacturing.<\/p>\n
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged the challenge in an interview on CNBC on Thursday, explaining that the United States and China were working to develop an investment board that would determine what sectors were acceptable for Chinese investment. That would essentially provide China with guidance on how to invest in the United States without its transactions being blocked by the Committee on Foreign Investment, an interagency group that reviews foreign investment and is led by Mr. Bessent.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, there are plenty of things that the Chinese could invest in in the U.S.,\u201d said Mr. Bessent, who is in Beijing with Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n
Chinese investment in the United States has declined sharply in recent years amid tougher investment screening standards nationally and at the state level.<\/p>\n
That sentiment could ultimately clash with Mr. Trump\u2019s transactional instincts and his desire to return home with a big-ticket win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Trump were to be committed to a major investment deal with China, there\u2019s still a challenge of implementation,\u201d said Kyle Jaros, an expert on U.S.-China ties at the University of Notre Dame. \u201cIt would take real follow-through to overcome a lot of the political and regulatory barriers that are in place right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to a report published last month by the research firm Rhodium Group, less than $3 billion of Chinese investment in the United States was announced in 2025. That was the lowest on record, with investment peaking at around $45 billion in 2016.<\/p>\n
The United States has imposed tight restrictions on Chinese investment out of national security concerns, making it difficult for Chinese firms to build factories near military facilities. Some states also have enacted restrictions<\/a> on Chinese purchases of real estate and farmland.<\/p>\n China\u2019s clean energy technology, such as electric vehicles and batteries, has also faced challenges in the United States because of political backlash. There was a surge of Chinese investment in those sectors after clean energy and tax legislation was passed under the Biden administration in 2022, but according to Rhodium, more than half of those investments have been canceled, paused or delayed.<\/p>\n A $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery factory that the Chinese company Gotion was building in Michigan was canceled last year after the community there protested<\/a> and mounted legal challenges to stop the project.<\/p>\n Other types of Chinese investment have also stirred controversy. That includes the recent purchase by Nongfu Spring, a Chinese bottled water company, of a warehouse in New Hampshire that it wants to turn into a bottling facility. The purchase was reviewed last year by the state\u2019s attorney general<\/a>.<\/p>\n