At the strong urging of the President, Donald Trump, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) voted unanimously to stop its implementation of a plan to invest pension funds belonging to U.S. government employees and the U.S. military in China.
On Friday, however, the White House stopped short of saying the president would urge private investors to stay out of the Chinese index.
At the briefing for White House correspondents, Newsmax cited the president’s action halting government pension funds from going to China and asked if he would now encourage private sector investors to do the same — notably BlackRock, the world’s largest investment manager, which now invests its customers’ money with 137 Chinese companies.
“I can’t get any information on what the president will or will not do next,” Press Secretary KayLeigh McEnany replied, but quickly added “ It’s a really important topic.”
The president’s top spokeswoman went on to say his decision to keep federal retirement dollars off the Chinese index “was the right call — [it]protects our military, and federal employees from risky investments and avoids investing in Chinese defense contractors.”
As for a call from the president to BlackRock and other investment firms to divest from China, McEnany would only say: “In terms of future activity on this front, I would be back to the president.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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