US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order banning Americans from investing in 59 Chinese firms, including telecoms giant Huawei and a plethora of arms manufacturers.

Biden is signing the executive order on Thursday that prohibits US investment in 59 Chinese companies. The order is almost identical to one signed by former US president Trump from last year, though it adds a handful of firms and shifts authority for enforcement from the Defense Department to the Treasury, a move that official told the media beforehand is more legally sound.

It also bans buying or selling publicly traded securities in target companies, and replaces an earlier list from the Department of Defense, senior administration officials told reporters.

The order prevents US investment from supporting the Chinese vested interest, military, intelligence, and security research and development programs, Biden told within the order. The firms on the list were chosen thanks to their overt or alleged work for China’s defense or surveillance sectors, or for his or her owners’ ties to those sectors.

“In addition, I find that the utilization of Chinese surveillance technology outside (China) and therefore the development or use of Chinese surveillance technology to facilitate repression or serious human rights abuse constitute unusual and extraordinary threats,” Biden said. White House fact sheet on the order said the policy would become for those companies listed on 2 August.

While American firms already involved these companies now have a year to divest. At the time of writing, the Chinese government has yet to reply to the new sanctions.