The Financial Times reports the U.S. Treasury is trying to “water down” Trump’s order banning investment in companies linked to the Chinese military.
The Treasury is concerned that tough measures on Chinese companies will disrupt global financial markets.
Conversely, national security policymakers and human rights advocates say that Americans shouldn’t be funding the totalitarian regime.
Last Friday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin posted a tweet saying there is no disagreement between him and Mike Pompeo regarding the executive order.
Minutes after that, Pompeo also denied there was any clash.
The executive order highlights 35 blacklisted companies, including subsidiaries and affiliates—which means more than 140 companies will be affected.
A person close to the matter told The Epoch Times that the alleged conflict could be over whether to include affiliates in the ban. Excluding affiliates could be a possible compromise. However, he said that would create a loophole. Majority stakeholders could reduce their stake to a minority amount to get around the ban.