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China pushes for looser chip controls in US trade talks

Updated Aug 10, 2025, 5:51pm EDT
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks next to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency/via Reuters

China wants the US to relax export controls on chips as part of a broader trade deal, raising alarm in Washington.

Beijing’s push to lower restrictions comes ahead of the Aug. 12 deadline for a US-China trade deal.

China argues the curbs hinder domestic firms’ ability to make their own artificial intelligence chips. “Relaxing these controls would be a gift to Huawei and SMIC,” one insider told the Financial Times, though US President Donald Trump may see the limits as a bargaining chip to get a summit with China’s leader Xi Jinping, experts said.

Chip firms Nvidia and AMD, which have pushed for lower export controls, reportedly agreed to pay 15% of their Chinese chip sale revenue to the US government.

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