Investment Screening Mechanisms (ISMs) have proliferated across advanced economies, transforming from a niche regulatory tool into a key instrument of geoeconomic strategy. While prior research has examined the causes behind this trend, the consequences of ISMs on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and economic governance remain underexplored. This commentary engages with the ISM Restrictiveness Index by Faubert and Bencivelli (2025) and extends the debate by analyzing the political implications of ISMs. It explores how ISMs challenge traditional models of International Political Economy, serve as tools for economic competition, and risk political capture. Additionally, ISMs are contextualized within the broader geoeconomic toolkit, reshaping globalization and state-market relations. As states recalibrate economic openness against security concerns, ISMs symbolize a broader shift toward strategic economic governance, raising critical questions about the future of global investment flows and the evolving political economy of globalization.