The Biden administration is warning Germany and other European nations not to let China take control of companies in strategic sectors, a senior US official said, pointing to a recent move to whittle down China’s stake in the Hamburg port as a successful outcome, Bloomberg reported.

The US had passed a message along via its Embassy in Berlin that China have no controlling interest in the port, according to the official. In the end, Germany allowed Chinese state-owned shipping conglomerate Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. to buy a 24.9% stake in one of Hamburg’s port terminals. That’s just shy of the threshold that’s considered a blocking minority in Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had initially supported the sale of 35% of one of the four port terminals by Hamburg Hafen and Logistik AG.

The official said the Biden administration, like the Trump administration before it, was working with European leaders to give careful scrutiny to investments in strategic areas so “autocratic powers” like China don’t take control.

Scholz was set to arrive in China on Friday with a delegation that will include Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume. US officials are anxious that the German leader not bind his country’s economy too closely to China for fear doing so could create the same dependency that Russia sought to exploit over natural gas.