President Donald Trump on Monday announced on social media that he has “informed President Xi, of China, that the United States will allow NVIDIA to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China and other Countries” and that “$25% will be paid to the United States of America.”
The U.S. President claimed the deal will “protect U.S. national security, create American jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI.”
Trump noted that the Department of Commerce is “finalizing the details, and the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel,” among other American companies.
[Note: In September, Nvidia announced that its investing $5 billion in Intel, the semiconductor manufacturing company that the U.S. federal government just invested in, taking a10 percent stake. The Trump administration has been criticized (by both Democrats and Republicans) for emulating communist countries like China and Russia for taking state ownership of companies.]
Former U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) replied to POTUS’s post today: “Hey GOP. Anyone gonna say anything? More… anyone gonna vote no on everything Trump wants till he reverses this???? Or you just gonna be ‘concerned’”?
Hey GOP. Anyone gonna say anything?
More… anyone gonna vote no on everything Trump wants till he reverses this????
Or you just gonna be “concerned”? pic.twitter.com/lFDkYWlLKT
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini)
(@AdamKinzinger) December 9, 2025
Self-described “progressive” political pundit Richard Angwin also voiced disapproval by writing: “Trump just handed China’s military the keys to America’s most advanced AI chips for a 25% tip, cowards in Congress are pretending they didn’t see it.”
[NOTE: A Brookings Institution study on the Chinese military and AI asserts “Chinese advances in autonomy and AI-enabled weapons systems could impact the military balance, while potentially exacerbating threats to global security and strategic stability as great power rivalry intensifies.”
A piece in the International Affairs Review contends: “The major targets for China to acquire technology transfer are foreign companies that desire access to the Chinese market. To get access to Chinese consumers, foreign firms are required to either share their technology and patents or establish joint ventures with Chinese companies or the government; both methods allow China to gain the know-how it wants.”]
As China’s above-noted “technology transfer” strategy now includes not just an American company (Nvidia) but also the partnering American government, Professor of Economics at Michigan State University Jeffrey Wooldridge focused on the 25% commission and replied, “Is $25% some new double secret math for determining how much Trump pockets?”
And the X account “ThinkLouder” replied: “The 25% payment feels like a distraction from the bigger issue: why are we helping China close the AI gap at all? The previous rules were inconvenient for companies, yes, but they were designed to prevent exactly what this policy could enable.”
The change in policy is stark, relenting on a long-held U.S. position of denying China access to cutting edge American semiconductor technology.
“Under three presidential administrations, officials in Washington have used export controls to hold back China’s access to advanced technology” is how The New York Times subtitled a June 2025 article on the America’s reluctance to share the tech that has enabled its lead in the AI race, especially given potential military repercussions.
That American advantage, however, may have already been erased, according to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has become a confidant of President Trump. Huang told Bloomberg in May that Chinese chipmaker Huawei’s AI products were “probably” comparable to Nvidia’s H200.
CNBC additionally reports that “China has been on a drive to wean itself off American technology and boost local semiconductor development for AI,” though many experts say that the H200 remains superior to anything China produces domestically.
