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President Trump made it plain on CBS’ 60 Minutes and in remarks aboard Air Force One that America’s most powerful Nvidia Blackwell chips won’t be allowed to flow into the hands of strategic rivals — the top-tier semiconductors will be reserved for U.S. companies and critical allies. That clarity is welcome after years of fuzzy policy that let crucial technology leak into adversarial hands.
This isn’t a knee-jerk ban — Trump has previously signaled he might permit downgraded versions or negotiated arrangements if they genuinely blunted the national-security risk, even meeting privately with industry leaders over the issue. That pragmatic posture gives the administration leverage: allow commerce where it’s safe, shut the door where it isn’t.
Make no mistake, keeping cutting-edge chips out of the hands of Communist China is about protecting American lives and liberty, not punishing trade. The worry is obvious — those chips accelerate AI capabilities that could be turned to military advantage, and we shouldn’t be underwriting a rival’s strategic edge with our own technology. The president’s tough line is the kind of common-sense defense of U.S. leadership the left-wing technocrats never prioritized.
At the same time the White House moves to protect our crown-jewel tech, the Commerce Department has shown it can approve carefully controlled exports to trusted partners — for example, recent U.S.-approved shipments to the UAE and agreements with South Korean firms show allies can receive chips under strict safeguards. Those exceptions prove the point: American leadership and American jobs are secured by smart policy, not open-handed global giveaways.
We should also call out the corporate lobbyists who’ve pushed to reopen China’s market at any cost. Nvidia’s executives have pushed for access, even negotiating complicated licensing and revenue arrangements to get product flows resumed, and too many in Big Tech would sooner chase profits than protect the republic. The administration is right to push back hard — national security can’t be bartered away for quarterly earnings.
Conservatives should applaud and push this policy further: expand domestic fabs, incentivize onshore supply chains, and coordinate with real allies while enforcing strict export controls on the bleeding edge. America must export prosperity and standards to friends while denying strategic tools to adversaries — that balanced, American-first approach was the promise of the White House AI blueprint and it must be kept.
If you love this country, you want the best chips made here and used here to keep our industries, our military, and our freedoms secure. This is not isolationism; it’s patriotism — defending American advantage so our children inherit a safer, stronger nation.
