U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a 25% tariff on semiconductors that are imported into the United States and then re-exported to other countries.
On the 14th (local time), after signing the proclamation at the White House, President Trump, aiming at Nvidia's H200, said, "It's not the top spec, but it's a very good-level chip. China wants it and other people want it," adding, "We're going to make 25% of the sales of that chip."
President Trump did not mention the H200 by name, but referred to Nvidia's cutting-edge AI chips "Blackwell" and the soon-to-be-released "Rubin," saying, "Those two are top-tier, but this (H200) is also a very good chip."
Virtually all of Nvidia's AI chips are produced at Taiwan's TSMC and then come to the United States, so they go through a "re-import for re-export" process.
Earlier, in Dec., President Trump allowed exports of the H200 to China and said that 25% of the sales would be paid to the United States. The U.S. Department of Commerce was also reported the previous day to have completed procedures to revise rules for exporting the H200 to China.
According to the proclamation, the measure follows the U.S. Department of Commerce's submission on Dec. 22 last year of an investigative report under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act on the impact of semiconductor imports on U.S. national security.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick noted in the report that semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and related derivative products are being imported under volumes and conditions that risk harming U.S. national security.
Accordingly, President Trump specified in the proclamation that a 25% tariff would be imposed if certain semiconductors imported into the United States do not contribute to building the U.S. technology supply chain or strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity for semiconductor derivative products.
The White House said, "Nvidia's H200 and AMD's MI325X are included among the products subject to the 25% tariff," adding, "President Trump could impose broader tariffs on imports of semiconductors and their derivative products in the near future to encourage manufacturing in the United States."
However, Chinese authorities themselves appear to be putting the brakes on importing the H200. According to Reuters, China's customs authorities recently instructed customs officers not to allow the H200 chip to be brought into China.
U.S. IT outlet The Information also reported that Chinese authorities told domestic semiconductor corporations to purchase the H200 only when absolutely necessary.