WASHINGTON — President Trump signaled on Tuesday that the White House may soften a plan to impose sweeping new investment restrictions on China, saying he supported giving more power to an existing government body that reviews foreign investments for national security threats.

No final decisions have been made and Mr. Trump could ultimately decide to move ahead with the type of tough bans on Chinese investment in American companies that he has been threatening as part of his crackdown on Beijing’s trade practices. The administration, which has already threatened China with tariffs on as much as $450 billion worth of its products, had promised to outline by Saturday proposed restrictions on Chinese investment to protect American companies it says were pressured to hand over valuable technology and trade secrets to operate in China.

The White House is still expected to unveil by Saturday restrictions on exporting sensitive American technologies abroad. That could have a more significant effect on United States companies than restrictions on Chinese investment, since it would limit the ability of American companies to sell a range of products to China. The White House has targeted specific products that it wants to prevent China from dominating, including robotics, artificial intelligence and new energy vehicles.

But people familiar with the discussions said that, at least on the issue of Chinese investment, the White House was now leaning toward endorsing a current effort in Congress to expand the authority of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, which reviews investments for security threats.