NEW YORK (AP) – In response to complaints from the tech industry and other countries, the US Department of Commerce has retracted Biden-era rules as it comes into effect Thursday to place a limit on the number of artificial intelligence chips that can be exported to certain international markets without federal approval.
“These new requirements will curb American innovation and plague businesses with new, burdensome regulatory requirements,” the Commerce Department said in its guidance.
President Joe Biden established an export framework just before resigning to balance national security concerns about technology with producers and other countries’ economic interests. The US had already restricted exports to enemies such as China and Russia, but some of their control had loopholes, and the rules had restrictions on a much wider group of countries, including the Middle Eastern countries that President Donald Trump is visiting this week.
The Biden Rule’s sorting into the export restriction layer of over 100 countries has sparked strong opposition from these countries and US ship manufacturers such as Nvidia and advanced microdevice. They argued that restrictions could actually encourage some countries to rely on China instead of the US for AI technology.
At a US Senate hearing last week, Microsoft president Brad Smith said:
Commerce Secretary Jeffrey Kessler said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s administration will work to replace the currently modest rules to pursue AI, while pursuing trustworthy foreign countries around the world, protecting technology from the hands of our enemies. The administration said that replacement rules are coming in the future but that the new rules have not said what they say.
The European Commission welcomed the change, spokesman Thomas Leisure argued that if Biden’s control becomes effective, “downgrading it to second-tier status will undermine US diplomatic relations with dozens of countries.”
European Union countries should be able to purchase advanced AI chips from the US without restrictions, Regnier said.
“We work closely, especially in the security field, representing the economic opportunity of the United States rather than security risks,” he said in a statement.
Original issue: May 14th, 2025 9:27am EDT
