Overview

• The administration paused export restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 GPUs to support rare-earth mineral trade negotiations and pave the way for a Trump-Xi summit
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that the Section 232 probe into semiconductor imports will conclude in two weeks with potential tariff recommendations
• Twenty former national security officials wrote to Lutnick urging a reversal of the H20 export reprieve to maintain US technological superiority
• House and Senate Democrats sent letters criticizing the export change as sacrificing economic and security priorities for negotiation leverage
• Nvidia has resumed H20 GPU sales to China under the export-control pause, following significant inventory writedowns earlier this year