Trump Allows Exports of ‘H200’ to China, Imposes 25% Tariff on Imported Chips

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According to Financial News, United States President Donald Trump on the 14th (local time) signed an executive order allowing exports to China of Nvidia Corporation’s artificial intelligence (AI) chip, the ‘NVIDIA H200 GPU.’ At the same time, he decided to impose an additional 25% tariff when high-performance chips produced overseas by Nvidia Corporation and others are imported into the United States.
Citing Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) and other local outlets, reports said Trump signed an executive order at The White House that permits United States chipmaker Nvidia Corporation to export its next-tier AI chip, the ‘NVIDIA H200 GPU,’ to China, while collecting 25% of the related sales revenue for the United States Treasury. Trump stated, “It is not the top-of-the-line, but it is a very good chip. China wants it, and other people want it,” adding, “We are going to make 25% of the sales of that chip.”
He continued, “So we are allowing them to do that, and in return the United States is taking 25% of the dollar value of those chips,” calling it “a very good deal.”
Although Trump did not explicitly mention Nvidia Corporation or the NVIDIA H200 GPU by name, he referred to Nvidia Corporation’s cutting-edge AI chips ‘NVIDIA Blackwell’ and the soon-to-be-released ‘NVIDIA Rubin,’ saying, “Those two are the very top, but this one (the NVIDIA H200 GPU) is also a very good chip.” In December last year, he had already signaled that exports of the NVIDIA H200 GPU to China would be allowed and that 25% of the sales would be paid to the United States. As of last month, Chinese companies were reported to have already ordered more than 2 million units of the NVIDIA H200 GPU from Nvidia Corporation at a price of 27,000 dollars (about 39.5 million won) per chip.
At the same time, Trump moved to block Nvidia Corporation and other chipmakers from importing into the United States products manufactured overseas and to encourage domestic production by imposing an additional 25% tariff on imported chips. According to a fact sheet released by The White House that day, when Nvidia Corporation, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and other chip manufacturers import certain high-performance chips produced abroad into the United States, an additional tariff will be levied. The measure is based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232).
Will Sharpe, the White House staff secretary, announced that “a 25% tariff will be imposed on chips imported into the United States that are not used to build AI and computing infrastructure within the United States.” He added, “For example, chips that are transshipped through the United States to other countries will also be subject to the 25% tariff.”
However, China, which since last August has banned imports of United States-made AI chips, including the NVIDIA H200 GPU, in order to reduce its reliance on imported semiconductors, is skeptical about resuming imports. On the 14th, United States media outlets, citing officials, reported that Chinese customs authorities recently instructed customs officers not to allow the NVIDIA H200 GPU to enter China. In a report on the 13th, United States IT outlet The Information said Chinese authorities had notified domestic chip companies that they should purchase the NVIDIA H200 GPU only when absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile, Trump on the same day signed a Senate-passed bill that allows public schools participating in the federal school lunch program to serve regular milk to students. The measure overturns guidance from the Barack Obama administration that had required schools to provide only low-fat milk to students.
pjw@fnnews.com Park Jong-won Reporter