When Congress passed the Export Control Reform Act in 2018, the intention was to prevent advanced technologies with military uses from falling into the hands of enemies.
Under President Donald Trump, export controls serve a different function: they give Trump leverage over private companies.
Microchipmaker Nvidia reportedly won a license to export some of its artificial intelligence chips to China, not because the Trump administration concluded that these chips don’t give China a military advantage, but because the company agreed to kick back 15% of its China sales to the U.S. Treasury.
Here’s a brief history: Congress passed the Export Control Reform Act in 2018, and under it, the Biden administration restricted the export of “certain high-end chips used in military applications” to China in 2022.
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