Trump hiked tariffs on US imports. Now he’s looking at exports – sparking fears of ‘dangerous precedent’ | Trump administration
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the White House with an unusual gift. “This box was built in California,” Cook assured his audience to the Oval Office this month while removing the cover.
There was a glass plaque inside, scraped for the buyer and had a plate to sit the plaque. Cook said, “The base was held in Utah and 24 Karat Gold,” Cook said.
Donald Trump really touched by the gift.
But it wasn’t the only offer of Plak Cook: Apple announced That day would invest $ 100 billion in US production.
The timing seemed to work well for Apple. That day Trump said that Apple would be exempt from a new US tariff in imported computer chips.
The art of the agreement seems great in the White House, in which Trump’s powerful technology companies reminiscent of real estate transactions that make him fame – in the midst of the trade war.
In recent days, however, the construction of this agreement has entered into unexplored waters.
Jensen Huang, Cook and Nvidia CEO, two days after having a closed meeting with Trump in the White House. The President later announced that NVIDIA would be allowed to sell certain artificial chips to Chinese companies as long as they shared 15% of their income with the US government, along with the competitor advanced micro devices (AMD).
It was a dramatic face of Trump, which initially prevented the export of chips in April. And he Rapid recommendations He said Nvidia was out of boiling tension between Washington and Beijing.
Trade experts say that an agreement that a company pays essentially to export the US government can destabilize trade relations. Martin Chorzempa, a senior member at the Peterson International Institute of Economics, said that “export controls are ready for sale”.
“If you create the perception that the licenses that need to be determined for pure national security reasons are offered for sale, you are opening a room for this lobby wave for all kinds of dangerous, delicate technologies, Cor said Chorzempa. “I think this is a very dangerous precedent.”
Although the White House announced the agreement, it is probably not technically released due to legal complications. The White House calls the agreement a “income sharing” contract, but critics say that it can be accepted as export tax that may not be legal under the US laws or the Constitution.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists this week, the “legality” of the agreement is “is still being ironed by the Ministry of Commerce”.
Nvidia and AMD’s AI chips are at the center of the technological weapon race between the US and China. Nvidia, the first public company that reached a $ 4 TN valuation last month, creates the basic processing chips used to run and improve AI.
The US government has played a role in this arms race for the last few years and has put arrangements on which arrangements of artificial intelligence and production equipment can make to China. If China has less information processing power, the country will be slower to develop artificial intelligence and will provide a clear advantage to the US.
However, despite the restrictions, China reveals questions about how the US policy should progress.
“They did not keep them back as much as the lawyers hoped. For us, the policy makers, “the question they have to make conflict: Where do you draw the line?”
AI Chips Nvidia and AMD can now sell to China. While they can be used for inferences in trained models, they are not strong enough to train new AI models. While announcing the agreement with Nvidia and AMD, Trump in question The chip is an old chip that China has already owned… Under a different label ”.
This is a great debate about AI policy. A harsh stance about the US relationship with China says that allowing Chinese companies to buy even a “old chip” can still help the country to make an advantage over the US. Others could say that a restriction on such plugs would not be meaningful and even inefficient.
To balance these two sides, the Trump administration asks companies to pay to China to pay for export – the AI discussion says that the people on both sides are a precarious solution.
John Molenaar, a US representative from Michigan, said, “Export controls are a front defense in preserving our national security, and John Molenaar, a US representative from Michigan, said, iz We should not determine a precedent that encourages the government to sell Chinese technology that will increase its capabilities.” expression.
However, the intestinal reaction of Trump’s agreement seems to focus on the wallet. On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised the regulation and claimed that it could be expanded to other industries over time. “I think this is unique right now, but now we have a model and beta test, why don’t you expand?” He told Bloomberg.
Los Angeles, California University Technology, Law and Policy Institute General Manager Julia Powles, the agreement of the agreement can be applied to other technology companies, he said.
“Which other Quid pro quo can be asked in the future? [tech] The sector is something that reduces its reputation on privacy and security. ” This thinks of the government, not as an institution with rules on when, how and what can be obtained, but as a trading operator. “
But now the White House seems to work like that. In explaining how he made the agreement to the press, Trump told Huang: orum I want 20% if I will approve it for you ”.
“For the country, for our country. I do not want myself,” he added. “And he said, ‘Can you do5?’ That’s why we made some agreement.
