Robert LaRussa of the Shearman CFIUS practice spoke at a January 26 webinar focused on the intersection of international trade, technology and national security. The panel, which was entitled "Trillion Dollar Question: How to Balance U.S. Interests When It Comes to Tech, Trade & National Security," also featured David Sanger, White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, and Dr. Pari Esfandiari, President of the Global Techno Politics Forum and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's GeoTech Center. It was moderated by national security expert David Rothkopf, Chief Executive Officer of The Rothkopf Group, Inc. and is part of the Beltway Black Box series of webcasts produced by Deep State Radio.

Robert’s remarks focused on the rapidly evolving and expanding regulatory framework involving trade, national security and technology, including CFIUS, the potential invocation of the direct product rule to curb technology exports to Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine and the expansion of U.S. Government authority to regulate the use by U.S. companies of foreign products, technology and services in their information and communications technology supply chain. Robert discussed the significant impact this had had on cross-border technology transactions and the importance of ensuring that such policy be de-politicized and grounded in a clear understanding of the true risk of such transactions and the commercial and market realities facing U.S. companies.