CURRENT EVENTS

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“… While the Trump administration publicly said a month ago that it was giving the green light to Nvidia to sell an A.I. chip called H20 to China, it did not actually issue the licenses making those sales possible.

On Wednesday, Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, met with President Trump at the White House and agreed to give the federal government its 15 percent cut, essentially making the federal government a partner in Nvidia’s business in China, said the people familiar with the deal. The Commerce Department began granting licenses for A.I. chip sales two days later, these people said.

… There are few precedents for the Commerce Department agreeing to grant licenses for exports in exchange for a share of revenue. But the unorthodox payments are consistent with Mr. Trump’s increasingly interventionist role in international business deals involving American companies.


The deal to license A.I. chips caused immediate outcry among national security experts who have been opposed to A.I. chip sales to China. They worry that the Trump administration’s decision to leverage export licenses for money will encourage Beijing to pressure other companies to make similar arrangements to loosen restrictions on other technology like semiconductor manufacturing tools and memory chips.

“This is an own goal and will incentivize the Chinese to up their game and pressure the administration for more concessions,” said Liza Tobin, who previously served as China director at the National Security Council during the Trump and Biden administrations.

“This is the Trump playbook applied in exactly the wrong domain. You’re selling our national security for corporate profits.”…”

——

So, Nvidia selling advanced chips to China was a national security threat until Nvidia agreed to split the profits with the U.S. Treasury? How does that fix the national security concern?
 


“… While the Trump administration publicly said a month ago that it was giving the green light to Nvidia to sell an A.I. chip called H20 to China, it did not actually issue the licenses making those sales possible.

On Wednesday, Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, met with President Trump at the White House and agreed to give the federal government its 15 percent cut, essentially making the federal government a partner in Nvidia’s business in China, said the people familiar with the deal. The Commerce Department began granting licenses for A.I. chip sales two days later, these people said.

… There are few precedents for the Commerce Department agreeing to grant licenses for exports in exchange for a share of revenue. But the unorthodox payments are consistent with Mr. Trump’s increasingly interventionist role in international business deals involving American companies.


The deal to license A.I. chips caused immediate outcry among national security experts who have been opposed to A.I. chip sales to China. They worry that the Trump administration’s decision to leverage export licenses for money will encourage Beijing to pressure other companies to make similar arrangements to loosen restrictions on other technology like semiconductor manufacturing tools and memory chips.

“This is an own goal and will incentivize the Chinese to up their game and pressure the administration for more concessions,” said Liza Tobin, who previously served as China director at the National Security Council during the Trump and Biden administrations.

“This is the Trump playbook applied in exactly the wrong domain. You’re selling our national security for corporate profits.”…”

——

So, Nvidia selling advanced chips to China was a national security threat until Nvidia agreed to split the profits with the U.S. Treasury? How does that fix the national security concern?

In any event, Trump seems to particularly loathe Section 9 of Article 1 of the Constitution. Among other things, Section 9 prohibits emoluments, prohibits suspension of the writ of habeus corpus (except during invasion or rebellion), prohibits bills of attainder and ex post facto laws [a number of Treasury regulations of PPP under Trump we’re blatantly ex post facto], limits use of Treasury funds only as directed by law, and also includes this prohibitions that the Nvidia deal seems to violate/skirt:

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.”
 
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