August 11, 2025

President Donald Trump defended a deal he struck with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to allow the sale of certain semiconductor chips to China in exchange for the company giving the U.S. government 15 percent of the revenue.

“I said, ‘I want 20 percent if I’m going to approve this for you,’” Trump told reporters Monday during a White House press conference. “For the country, for our country. I don‘t want it myself. .... And he said, ‘Would you make it 15?‘ So we negotiate a little deal.”

News of the deal sparked a backlash from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as former trade officials, who questioned the legality of the move and said it was a misuse of export controls.

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