WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump suggested he would scrap plans for new restrictions on Chinese investment in U.S. technology and rely mainly on existing tools that some of his advisers have labeled inadequate to guard against the purchase—and theft—of innovations vital to the U.S. economy.

“We have the greatest technology in the world. People come and steal it,” he said in response to questions from reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “We have to protect that and that can be done through CFIUS,” referring to an interagency group, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which screens foreign investments to see whether they endanger national security.

He called a recent article in The Wall Street Journal that the administration was planning two further initiatives, in addition to CFIUS, to prevent Beijing from obtaining advanced U.S. technology “a bad leak…probably just made up.”

As recently as Sunday, administration officials and others who work closely with the administration had said the plans for the restrictions were on track, though Mr. Trump hadn’t yet approved them.

If Mr. Trump’s decision holds, it would represent a significant easing of threats the president has made against China and a possible olive branch to Beijing before the July 6 imposition of the first tariffs on Chinese goods under the Trump administration’s trade offensive. The new policy is planned for release on Wednesday, administration officials said.