Washington : US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a plan to restrict Chinese investment in US technology companies as part of an effort to fight the theft of intellectual property.

“Certain countries direct and facilitate systematic investment in US companies and assets in order to obtain cutting-edge technologies and intellectual property in industries those countries deem important,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House.

According to the statement, Trump instructed the Treasury Department to investigate acquisitions of assets by foreigners via the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, a government agency, and report to him “regarding appropriate measures to address these concerns”.

Trump asked Congress to update the 2017 Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) to improve protections “from new and evolving threats posed by foreign investment”, Efe news reported.

A better FIRRMA, according to the statement, would provide additional tools for the Trump administration to fight investment practices that threaten US technological leadership, national security and future economic prosperity.

In recent months, Washington and Beijing have raised investors’ concerns about a possible trade war due to the imposition by both sides of tariffs on a variety of products.

Tensions increased in March, when the Trump administration announced tariffs totalling $50 billion on steel and aluminium products imported from China, and Beijing responded with tariffs on 128 US products.

—IANS