Frequent Filers Club: Treasury Announces CFIUS Fast Track
Client Alert | May 12, 2025
A new CFIUS “fast-track” pilot program—designed to streamline the investment process for foreign investors from allied and partner countries—aims to enhance efficiencies in the CFIUS review process while maintaining robust national security protections.
On May 8, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in its capacity as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), announced plans to establish a “fast-track” pilot program to expedite its review of investments from allied and partner countries. This program will include a first of its kind “Known Investor” portal, where CFIUS can collect information from foreign investors pre-filing with the aim of accelerating the review process. Treasury will launch this initiative as a pilot program with plans to refine it over time, though further details have not been provided at this time.
This development closely tracks President Trump’s America First Investment Policy (the “Policy”) issued on February 21, 2025, which outlined a dual policy goal: making the United States “the world’s greatest destination for investment dollars,” while also enhancing the “ability to protect the United States from new and evolving threats that can accompany foreign investment.” The Policy announced that the U.S. would create a “fast-track” process to facilitate greater investment from “specified allies and partner sources” based on “objective standards,” though a formal list of qualifying jurisdictions was not released. At the same time, the announcement underscored that CFIUS would maintain rigorous scrutiny on non-passive investments by the People’s Republic of China.
Looking forward, the “Known Investor” program could be particularly valuable for European and Middle Eastern investors, particularly for transactions with minimal national security risks. At this stage, it remains unclear whether the implementation will follow a notice and comment procedure via the Federal Register or whether guidance will be issued directly through the CFIUS website. The exact timeline for implementation also remains unclear.
Our team at Gibson Dunn is closely monitoring this new development and is actively advising clients on preparing for the new program.
Gibson Dunn’s lawyers are available to assist in addressing any questions you may have regarding these issues. For additional information about how we may assist you, please contact the Gibson Dunn lawyer with whom you usually work, the authors, or the following leaders and members of the firm’s International Trade Advisory & Enforcement or Sanctions & Export Enforcement practice groups:
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