Trump’s AI Action Plan aims to block chip exports to China but lacks key details

The Trump administration wants its AI technology to be considered an industrial leader, both at home and abroad. But it also does not want the AI thinking of the US to strengthen or encourage a foreign opponent.

That is quite a balance to make.

As President Trump AI action planThat Wednesday was released, every indicator is, it seems that the administration is still sorting out the right way of acting to achieve those goals.

“America is currently the world leader in the construction of data centers, calculating hardware performance and models,” said the plan. “It is necessary that the United States uses this advantage in a permanent global alliance, while we prevent our opponents from being free about our innovation and investments.”

The plan states the strengthening of the export controls of AI -chip by “creative approaches” followed by a few policy recommendations.

The first calls to government organizations, including the Department of Commerce and National Security Council, to collaborate with the AI industry on chiplocatisifiering functions. The second is a recommendation to make an attempt to find enforcement for potential chip export restrictions; In particular, it states that although the US and allies impose export controls on important systems needed for chip production, there is no focus on many of the component subsystems – a hint where the administration wants the document to focus on its attention.

The AI action plan also talks about how the US should find coordination with its global allies in this area.

“America must impose strong export controls on sensitive technologies,” says the plan. “We must encourage partners and allies to follow American checks and not to fill. If they do, America must use aids such as the direct foreign product rule and secondary rates to achieve greater international coordination.”

The AI action plan never comes up in detail on how it will achieve worldwide alliances, coordinates with allies in export chip restrictions or collaborate with American AI companies on chiplocation verification functions. Instead, the AI action plans were on which fundamental building blocks are needed for future sustainable AI -chip export guidelines, in contrast to policy that is implemented on top of existing guidelines.

The result: Chip export restrictions will take more time. And there is sufficient evidence, beyond the AI action plan, to suggest that it will do. For example, the Trump government has contradicted its export reduction strategy several times in recent months – including last week.

In July, the administration gave semiconductor companies, such as Nvidia and AMD, the green light to sell AI chips that they had developed for China, only a few months after rolling out license restrictions on the same AI chips that Nvidia effectively removed from the Chinese market.

The administration also formally withdrawn the AI diffusion rule of the BIDEN administration (which has set a limit on how much AI computer capacity some countries were allowed to buy) in May, just a few days before it had to come into force.

The Trump administration is expected to sign several executive orders on 23 July. Whether these detailed plans will contain about how it will achieve its goals is unclear.

Although the AI action plan talks extensively about finding out how the American AI market can be expanded worldwide, while retaining dominance, the light is on the details. Every executive order with regard to the export restrictions of Chip will probably be about bringing the right government services together to find a path ahead, in contrast to formal guidelines.