Trump Answers High-Stakes Question On AI And China
Two weeks ago, Bloomberg anchor Lisa Abramowicz, discussing the sale of Nvidia H200s to China with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, asked, “Is it more of a national security risk to give China some of these high-powered chips, or is it more of a national security risk to not have United States tech in China?”
Lutnick replied, saying that very question was sitting on the president’s desk. On Monday, President Trump delivered his answer.
“I have informed President Xi, of China, that the United States will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China, and other Countries, under conditions that allow for continued strong National Security,” the president announced. “President Xi responded positively! 25% will be paid to the United States of America.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on whether that 25% will be paid by foreign governments, strictly Chinese buyers, or the AI companies themselves. In August, reports surfaced of a separate arrangement in which Nvidia and AMD would share 15% of their profits with the United States government.
President Trump emphasized that Nvidia’s most advanced chips, Blackwell and Rubin, would not be included in H200 export authorization.
The decision drew an immediate rebuke from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “After his backroom meeting with Donald Trump and his company’s donation to the Trump ballroom, CEO Jensen Huang got his wish to sell the most powerful AI chip we’ve ever sold to China.”
Warren called for Huang to “testify publicly and under oath” in front of Congress.
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Trump defended the move, insisting it would not compromise national security. “We will protect national security, create American jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI,” he stated.
Earlier this month, Samuel Hammond, the chief economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, told The Daily Wire, “Permitting H200 exports to China would be a world-historic mistake. America’s current lead in AI would be radically diminished with very little to show for it.”
AI Czar David Sacks, speaking at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference, described the export policy as a complicated endeavor.
“What we ship to China is complicated,” he said, noting that current policy permits less advanced chips to be sold abroad, but that the fight in Washington is where that line is drawn. “Some people want to draw that line very, very restrictively.”
Sacks has not yet commented on the H200 decision — but earlier on Monday, he weighed in on the president’s forthcoming “One Rule” executive order. “There must be only one rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” Trump said, warning that “we are beating all countries at this point in the [AI] race, but that won’t last for long if we are going to have 50 States involved in the rules and approval process.”
Addressing concerns on the AI preemption, Sacks stated that with 50 different AI models for 50 different states, America will end up with a “regulatory morass worse than Europe.” The AI czar added, “If we want America to win the AI race, a confusing patchwork of regulation will not work.”
Further details on the “One Rule” executive order, as well as clarification on the H200 sale to China, are expected later this week.
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