The U.S. Department of Commerce quietly withdrew a proposed regulation on the export of artificial intelligence chips on Friday local time, indicating that the Trump administration has once again backtracked on policy on how to protect the U.S.’s leading edge in artificial intelligence.
This so-called "AI Action Plan Implementation" rule was previously sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) under the White House Budget Office for review on February 26, and was displayed as "pending review" on its website until it was removed this Friday.
When asked about the reason for the withdrawal, a U.S. official said that this rule was "just a draft from beginning to end, and it is still a draft today" and emphasized that the relevant discussions previously reported by the outside world were "only preliminary."
As early as last spring, the Ministry of Commerce stated that it would abolish and replace the global AI chip export regulatory framework introduced by the Biden administration in January 2025, with a set of "more simplified" new regulations to ensure the United States' dominance in the AI field, but in the end no formal regulations were issued.
According to a document previously seen by Reuters, the latest Trump version of the draft has considered linking large-scale AI chip exports to foreign investment in the United States or security commitments.
The document shows that if foreign buyers want to obtain 200,000 or more U.S. AI chips, they may need to invest in U.S. data centers or provide security guarantees; and if the purchase scale is less than 100,000 chips, their government will need to provide a government-level guarantee to the United States.
This idea is obviously different from the approach during the Biden period. The Biden administration's rules divide the world into three tiers: allies have unlimited access to U.S. AI chips, most countries are restricted in quantity, and "countries of concern" are completely prohibited from obtaining such critical chips. The rule is seen as the culmination of four years of control actions by the Biden administration. The core goal is to minimize China's ability to obtain advanced chips while maintaining the United States' AI leadership.
One former official said the withdrawal of the proposed rule likely reflects disagreements within the Trump administration over how to balance the pursuit of global AI dominance with dealing with national security risks.
Shortly before withdrawing the rules, the Ministry of Commerce posted on the social platform
According to these arrangements, the two countries agreed to invest in the United States while obtaining American AI chips.
However, the Ministry of Commerce also made it clear that it will not return to the set of AI proliferation management rules it described as “cumbersome” during the Biden era.