Economic Security As National Security

In the face of sweeping tariffs that the United States is imposing on Canada, the government released amended Guidelines on the National Security Review of Investments ("the Guidelines") to expand its interpretation of the national security provisions in the Investment Canada Act ("ICA") to expressly include "economic security" as a consideration. The Guidelines are effective immediately and further changes on timing may be coming depending on the extent to which inbound investments are caught by these new rules.

Any inbound investment into Canada may be subject to national security review by the Canadian government. Historically, these reviews focused on acquisitions or investments in defence, critical infrastructure, financial services, uranium mining and businesses that collect or manage personally identifiable information of Canadians. For the most part, the reviews have targeted inbound investment from China.