In January, the United States inaugurated restrictions on U.S. investment in certain Chinese advanced technology sectors. At the time, the Outbound Investment Rule was portrayed as an incremental measure, a modest extension to fill loopholes in the existing investment screening regime. But while perhaps the logical next step in the securitization of the economy, Professor Harlan Cohen of Fordham Law School argues that the Outbound Investment Rule actually reflects a momentous shift in the relationship between governments and business, one playing out in the United States and around the world and worth attention. Unlike traditional investment screening, he explains, the Outbound Investment Rule operates like a sanctions regime, designed not to protect the U.S. economy, but to hamper the advancement of another. Learn more.