Trump pauses export controls to bolster China trade deal, FT says
THE US has paused curbs on tech exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to secure a meeting with President Xi Jinping this year, the Financial Times (FT) said on Monday.
The industry and security bureau of the Commerce department, which oversees export controls, has been told in recent months to avoid tough moves on China, the newspaper said, citing current and former officials.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The White House and the department did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside business hours.
Top US and Chinese economic officials are set to resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to tackle long-standing economic disputes at the center of a trade war between the world’s top two economies.
Tech giant Nvidia said this month it would resume sales of its H20 graphics processing units (GPU) to China, reversing an export curb the Trump administration imposed in April to keep advanced artificial intelligence chips out of Chinese hands over national security concerns.
The planned resumption was part of US negotiations on rare earths and magnets, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said.
The paper said 20 security experts and former officials, including former deputy US national security adviser Matt Pottinger, will write on Monday to Mr. Lutnick to voice concern, however.
“This move represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States’ economic and military edge in artificial intelligence,” they write in the letter, it added. — Reuters
