Bessent: Nvidia, AMD Chip Arrangement Could Be 'Beta Test' for Future Export Deals
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week echoed earlier comments from the White House that said the administration is open to expanding its Nvidia and AMD revenue-sharing export arrangements to other companies or industries (see 2508120049). He said the U.S. is OK negotiating export controls over Nvidia’s H20s chips because they present no national security issues.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Bessent, speaking on Bloomberg TV Aug. 13, was asked how he responds to critics who say the U.S. is “putting a price” on national security by granting Nvidia and AMD export licenses in exchange for a portion of their profits. Bessent disagreed with the notion, saying he doesn’t believe lifting controls on H20 chips will affect U.S. national security.
“There are no national security concerns here,” he said. “We would not sell any of the advanced chips.” The H20s are “four, five, six levels down the chip stack.”
He called the chip arrangements announced earlier this week -- in which Nvidia and AMD will pay the government 15% of their profits from exporting certain chips to China (see 2508110044) -- “a very unique solution.” The deal “allows Nvidia to expand into China. It can make Nvidia chips the bellwether for Chinese technology, and then the U.S. taxpayer gets a share of that.”
Bessent said the Trump administration could reach similar export deals with other American companies. “I think we could see it in other industries over time,” he said. “I think right now, this is unique, but now that we have the model and the beta test, why not expand it?”
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Beijing is urging Chinese companies to avoid buying H20 chips. Bessent said that “tells me that they are worried about the Nvidia chips becoming the standard in China.”
Bessent was also asked about an Aug. 11 Wall Street Journal editorial that criticized the chip deals. The WSJ called the arrangements a “step toward government control of private business.”
“No, not at all,” Bessent said. “With this unfettered trade, we did not have secure trade or fair trade, and so now we are trying to make it secure." He added that "we're not sending out the highest-level chips, and we don't want to sell everything to everybody. So there is a need for intervention. And the Wall Street Journal just let it rip. They’ve got a bunch of grumpy old men over there.”
Bessent also said the Trump administration may decide to levy new sanctions against Russia if the scheduled meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week doesn’t go well. “Sanctions can go up, they can be loosened, they can have a definitive life. They can go on indefinitely,” he said. “There's this Russian shadow fleet of ships around the world that I think we could crack down on.”
He also urged the Group of Seven nations to follow the U.S. in imposing secondary tariffs on countries that continue to buy Russian oil, including possibly China. Bessent said he asked the G7 countries about the tariffs at a recent meeting in Canada.
“I looked at all the leaders around the table, and I said, is everyone at this table willing to put a 200% secondary tariff on China? And you know what? Everybody wanted to see what kind of shoes they were wearing,” he said. “It's put up or shut up time. The president is creating his own leverage. We need the Europeans to come in and help create more leverage.”