Trump's deal puts our national security on sale

The White House named the price — 15% of their revenues from such sales - and the companies assented willingly. Never mind that the exports originally had been banned — by the Biden administration and Trump himself - because of national security concerns

- Michael Hiltzik, Tribune News Service

One thing that can be said about Donald Trump's transactional approach to policy-making is that, as destructive as it might be to our economic health, it gives business leaders clear options to get what they want out of the White House.

The latest casein-point are the deals struck by chipmakers Nvidia and AMD to secure licenses to export their products to China. The White House named the price — 15% of their revenues from such sales — and the companies assented willingly. Never mind that the exports originally had been banned— by the Biden administration and Trump himself — because of national security concerns. Never mind that the US Constitution explicitly prohibits charging any tax or duty on exports. Never mind that a stack of US laws, including the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, which Trump signed, don’t provide a pay-to-play escape clause from export restrictions.