Trump Bars Americans From Investing in Firms That Help China’s Military

President Trump signed an executive order prohibiting Americans from investing in a group of Chinese companies the U.S. says supply and otherwise support China’s military, intelligence and security services.

The order blocks American companies and individuals from owning shares directly or through funds that include any of 31 companies identified by the U.S. as aiding the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, and China’s intelligence and security services.

Those firms, which include large state-run aerospace, shipbuilding and construction companies as well as technology companies such as the video-surveillance-equipment maker Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., enable China’s access to advanced technologies and expertise to help the PLA expand and take a more aggressive posture around the world, administration officials have said.