H.R. 1122 — China Technology Transfer Control Act of 2025

This section provides the short title of the Act as the “China Technology Transfer Control Act of 2025.”

This section establishes definitions for the act, including “Chinese person,” “covered national interest technology or intellectual property,” “foreign person,” “knowingly,” “intellectual property,” “technology,” and “United States person.” It defines a “Chinese person” as an individual who is a citizen or national of the People’s Republic of China, or an entity organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China or otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the Government of the People’s Republic of China. It defines “covered national interest technology or intellectual property” to include: (1) technology or intellectual property that would make a significant contribution to the military potential of the People’s Republic of China and would prove detrimental to U.S. national security; (2) technology or intellectual property that is a component of products included in the most recent list required under section 183 of the Trade Act of 1974, as added by section 6(a), determined in consultation with the United States Trade Representative; and (3) technology used by the Government of the People’s Republic of China to carry out violations of human rights or religious liberties. It defines “foreign person” as any person that is not a United States person, “knowingly” as actual knowledge or constructive knowledge (i.e., should have known), “intellectual property” to include copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets under 18 U.S.C. § 1839, and any other form of intellectual property, “technology” to include goods or services relating to information systems, internet-based services, production-enhancing logistics, robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, or computing, and “United States person” as a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or an entity organized under U.S. law, including a foreign branch of such an entity.

This section states the sense of Congress that the United States should protect itself when cultural and technological exchange channels are exploited by adversaries, and that the People’s Republic of China seeks to exploit those channels through intellectual property theft and the manipulation of lawful technology transfers and uses to support its military objectives and threaten the United States.

This section directs the President to control, beginning 180 days after enactment, the export, re-export, or transfer to the People’s Republic of China of covered national interest technology or intellectual property subject to U.S. jurisdiction or exported by a U.S. person. It also requires the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce to submit a joint report to Congress within 90 days of enactment assessing whether those controls should be implemented under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations or the Export Administration Regulations, and requires the President to issue implementing regulations within 180 days of enactment.

This section directs the President, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), to block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property of certain persons if the property is in the United States, comes within the United States, or is in the possession or control of a U.S. person. It applies to (1) any foreign person that, on or after enactment, knowingly sells or otherwise provides to, or knowingly purchases from, the People’s Republic of China any covered national interest technology or intellectual property subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and (2) any Chinese person that, on or after enactment, knowingly uses covered national interest technology or intellectual property provided in violation of section 4 or any other U.S. export control law. This section excludes the authority to impose sanctions on the importation of goods. It defines “good” to mean any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply, or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, but excluding technical data. This section authorizes the President to waive sanctions if the President determines and reports to Congress that the waiver is in the national security interests of the United States. It also authorizes the President to use the implementation and enforcement authorities in sections 203 and 205 of IEEPA, applies the civil and criminal penalties in section 206 of IEEPA to violations, and exempts this section from IEEPA’s national emergency requirement under section 202.

This section establishes a new annual list, to be published not later than 120 days after enactment and each year thereafter, of products manufactured in, produced in, or exported from the People’s Republic of China that receive support from the Government of the People’s Republic of China under the Made in China 2025 industrial policy or other support that displaces U.S. net exports of like products, or that the Secretary of State determines are used by that government to carry out human rights or religious liberty violations. As background, the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to identify trade-related practices and products for policy action. The section directs USTR to include products identified in specified Chinese policy documents, including Made in China 2025, China Manufacturing 2025, the 13th Five-Year National Strategic Emerging Industries Development Plan, and related guidance, and to include products in 16 industries: civil aircraft, turbine engines, motor vehicles, advanced medical equipment, advanced construction equipment, agricultural machinery, railway equipment, diesel locomotives, freight-moving equipment, semiconductors, lithium battery manufacturing, artificial intelligence, high-capacity computing, quantum computing, robotics, and biotechnology. It also makes a clerical amendment to the Trade Act’s table of contents to add section 183.