Trump imposes tariffs on U.S. imports. Now he is working on exports – sparking fear of “dangerous precedent” | Trump administration

apple CEO Tim Cook Visited the White House with unusual gifts. “This box is made in California,” Cook assured the audience at the Oval Office as he took off the lid this month.

Inside is a glass plaque with the carvings of its receiver, and a plate for the plaque to sit on. “The base is made in Utah and is 24 carats of gold,” Cook said.

Donald Trump The gift was really touched.

But the plaque is not Cook’s only product: Apple Announce That day, it will invest another $1 billion in U.S. manufacturing.

The timing seems to be good apple. Trump said on the same day that Apple will become a new company that will not be subject to tariffs on imported computer chips in the United States.

The art of dealing is huge in the White House, and Trump struck a brokerage deal with powerful tech companies in his trade war, reminiscent of the real estate deals that made him famous.

But in recent days, this transaction has entered unknown waters.

Cook and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang held a closed-door meeting with Trump at the White House two days after. The president later Announce NVIDIA and its competitors’ advanced micro devices (AMDs) will be allowed to sell certain AI chips to Chinese companies as long as they share 15% of their revenue with the U.S. government.

It was Trump’s drama, who initially blocked the export of chips in April. Then Make suggestions quickly Nvidia is buying from a suppression tension between Washington and Beijing.

Trade experts say such a deal, a company essentially pays the U.S. government to export well, could undermine the stability of trade relations. Martin Chorzempa, a senior researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said it created “a perception that export controls have been sold.”

“If you create the rightful awareness that permissions should be determined on a purely national security field, you may be offering this wave of lobbying for all kinds of real, dangerous, sensitive technologies,” Chorzempa said. “I think this is a very dangerous precedent.”

Although the White House announced the deal, it hasn’t been launched yet technically, which could be due to legal complications. The White House called the deal a “income-sharing” deal, but critics noted that it could also be considered an export tax, which could be illegal under U.S. law or the Constitution.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week that the “legality” of the deal is “still being eliminated by the Department of Commerce.”

NVIDIA and AMD’s AI chips are at the heart of the technological weapons competition between the United States and China. NVIDIA, becoming the first publicly traded company, reaching $4TN Valuation Last month, basic processing chips were created to run and develop AI.

Over the past few years, the U.S. government has played a role in this arms race, setting rules that AI chips and manufacturing equipment can be sent to China. If China has smaller computing power, the country will develop AI less quickly, thus bringing a clear advantage to the United States.

But despite the restrictions, China has been catching up, raising questions about how U.S. policy should move forward.

“They haven’t shut them out as much as their advocates have hoped. The United States has a huge computing advantage over China, but their best models are only a few months behind our best models,” Chorzempa said. “The question they have to solve is: Where are you drawing the line?”

AI CHIPS NVIDIA and AMD are now available for sale to China. Although they can be used to infer trained models, they are not functional enough to train new AI models. Trump explain Chips are “old chips that China already owns… under different labels.”

This is a major debate about AI policy. Those with a tough stance on U.S.-China relations say allowing Chinese companies to even buy “old chips” can still help the country gain an advantage over the United States. Others would say that the limitations on such chips would not make sense or even counterproductive.

To balance these two aspects, Trump administration Asking for company payments to be exported to China – People on both sides of the AI debate say it is an unstable solution.

“Export controls are the front-line defense to protect our national security, and we should not set a precedent to incentivize the government to grant licenses to sell Chinese technology to enhance the capabilities of artificial intelligence,” said John Moolenaar, a Republican U.S. representative from Michigan. statement.

But Trump’s gastrointestinal reaction to the deal seems to be focused on his wallet. On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised the arrangement and recommended that it be expanded to other industries over time. “I think it’s unique now, but now that we have models and beta testing, why not scale it up?” he told Bloomberg.

Julia Powles, executive director of the UCLA Institute of Technology, Law and Policy, said the deal raises questions about whether similar pressure can be put on other tech companies.

“What other Quid Pros might be asked in the future? [tech] “The department is anything to reduce its reputation for privacy and security. That’s what it means to the government, just like a dealer, not like a rule, how and how to withdraw taxes, taxes and subsidies,” said Bowles.

But that seems to be how the White House works now. “If I want to approve this for you, I want 20%” when explaining to the media how he reached a deal.

“For the country, for our country. I don’t want it myself.” “He said, ‘Can you be 15?’ So we negotiated some deals.”