The U.S. and the EU reached a trade deal this week that will include a 15% U.S. tariff on most EU exports and will eliminate duties on both sides for other items, including aircraft parts and certain semiconductor equipment, agricultural products and more. The EU also will buy advanced American AI chips along with more American energy as part of the bloc’s effort to phase out purchases from Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
Cadence, a California-based electronic design automation firm, will pay more than $140 million in combined civil fines, criminal penalties and forfeitures to resolve allegations that it illegally exported technology to Chinese entities, DOJ and the Bureau of Industry and Security announced July 28. The company pleaded guilty to illegally exporting EDA hardware, software and semiconductor design intellectual property technology to the National University of Defense Technology, a university added to the Commerce Department's Entity List for its ties to the Chinese military, DOJ said.
At least $1 billion worth of Nvidia advanced AI chips were smuggled into China about a month after the Trump administration placed new export controls on the company's less advanced chips, the Financial Times reported July 24. Multiple Chinese distributors in May began selling Nvidia's B200 chips to suppliers of data centers that serve Chinese AI groups, the report said, adding that those chips are more advanced than Nvidia's H20s, which the Trump administration restricted in April (see 2504160026). Contracts reviewed by the Financial Times for sales during that time period showed shipments "estimated to be more than" $1 billion.
The Trump administration should carefully study any new export controls on the subsystems of semiconductor manufacturing equipment so it doesn’t unintentionally undercut U.S. chip tooling firms, wrote Ruby Scanlon, a research assistant with the Center for a New American Security.
The Trump administration is launching a new program to increase U.S. exports of AI technologies and services as part of an effort to spread the adoption of American AI systems around the world.
The White House said in a fact sheet that Japan will immediately expand import quotas on rice, allowing for 75% more U.S. rice sales to that country's buyers.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that where the line should be drawn on export controls will be on the table during negotiations with Chinese officials in Stockholm next week.
The U.S. should impose new export controls on the subsystems of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and double down on enforcement for exports of advanced AI chips, including by potentially mandating that chip exporters use location-tracking features, the White House said in its new AI action plan. While the plan calls for tighter controls against China and other “strategic adversaries,” it also said the U.S. should strike deals with other countries to export American AI systems around the world.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 along party lines July 23 to approve David Peters' nomination as assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement.
The new U.S. outbound investment regulations appear so far to be blunting American investments in sensitive Chinese technology sectors, even for investments that only require a notification to the Treasury Department, law firm Sidley Austin said in a client alert this month.