By Alexandra Alper
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the wake of White House pressure, an independent board charged with overseeing billions in federal retirement dollars announced on Wednesday it would indefinitively delay plans to invest in some Chinese companies.
In a statement, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment (FRTIB) board cited a "meaningfully different economic environment" due to the coronavirus pandemic and the nomination of new board members to explain the deferral.
The FRTIB oversees the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a retirement savings fund for federal employees and members of the military, which includes a $40 billion international fund that was slated this year to begin tracking an index that includes Chinese companies under scrutiny in Washington.
The administrators froze the plan days after the Trump administration told it to "halt all steps" tied to shifting its $40 billion international fund track the MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) All Country World ex-U.S.A. Investable Market Index <.MIWU00000PUS>.
The decision marks a win for China hawks in Washington, who have taken advantage of deteriorating relations with Beijing over the origins of the coronavirus to push measures that are tough on China.
The Trump administration recently released rules to make it tougher to export certain types of advanced technology to China and is accelerating efforts to remove global industrial supply chains from China.
President Donald Trump has accused Beijing of failing to alert the world about the severity and scope of the virus, which has killed more than 80,0000 Americans and originated in the city of Wuhan, China late last year. China has denied the accusations.