Executive Order 13959

The executive order prohibits all U.S. investors (institutional and retail investors alike) from purchasing or investing in securities of companies identified by the U.S. government as "Communist Chinese military companies". A "Communist Chinese military company" is any company that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has identified pursuant to Section 1237 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999. The prohibition came into effect on January 11, 2021. On December 28, 2020, guidance on the executive order was published, clarifying that the order included subsidiaries of the relevant companies. On January 13, 2021, President Trump strengthened the executive order's requirements by issuing Executive Order 13974 ("Amending Executive Order 13959—Addressing the Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies"), which mandated divestment by November 11, 2021. ==Section 1237 list of companies==

Initially, the DoD identified 31 companies, including two companies whose shares were traded on U.S. exchanges. These include companies in aerospace, shipbuilding, construction, technology and communication industries. On December 3, 2020, the Department of Defense designated four additional companies as owned or controlled by the Chinese military, taking the total number of affected companies to 35. On January 14, 2021, the Department of Defense designated nine additional companies as owned or controlled by the Chinese military, taking the total number of affected companies to 44. ==Delistings==

As a consequence of the executive order, the New York Stock Exchange in January ended trading of shares in China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, and announced in late February that trading in CNOOC would also cease on March 9, 2021. == Section 1260H list of companies ==

On June 28, 2021, the DoD published two notices in the Federal Register. The first notice removed the designation as Communist Chinese military companies under Section 1237 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999. The second notice published DoD's first list under Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, designating entities as "Chinese military companies" in accordance with the updated statutory definition. Since June 2021, the DoD has updated the 1260H list on an annual basis. ==See also==