Opinion | Trump’s Nvidia Deal Undermines National Security

A lot happened this week. Paramount has just announced a hostile takeover bid for Warner Brothers Discovery. Australia is now the first country to ban social media for kids. A federal judge has ordered the end the deployment of California National Guard troops. Here’s one thing you shouldn’t miss. On Monday, President Trump said the United States will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China. There’s some irony here, because Trump keeps talking about how important it is for the United States to stay dominant in defense and A.I. America is the country that started the A.I. race. The world’s number one superpower in artificial intelligence, and we are way ahead of China. I have to say we will not allow any foreign nation to beat us. Chips like these increasingly power our daily lives, but our nation’s military strength is especially dependent on them, and they fuel A.I. innovation. So selling state of the art chips to our biggest rival might not be the best idea, especially one pretty notorious for stealing intellectual property. None of that seems to matter to President Trump, who is very proud of the 25 percent cut that the United States will get from the deal, which, by the way, might be illegal because the Constitution says that taxes cannot be imposed on exports. Then again, when has the Constitution ever stopped Trump. Very rarely. The president has shown over and over again that he is willing to trade away almost any American asset or principle for the right price. This year alone, he has agreed to sell America’s most advanced fighter jet to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns from the Pentagon that this could allow China to steal the plane’s technology. I think they should get top of the line. He accepted a luxury jet as a gift from Qatar. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. Apparently not thinking about the strings or the listening devices that could be attached. And he launched the Trump gold card. It’s somewhat like a green card, but with big advantages over a green card, which allows wealthy foreigners to buy US residency for a million. And let’s not forget about that $15,000 non-refundable filing fee. The Trump administration says that applicants will be vetted. But a similar program in the U.K. was shut down due to concerns about corruption and criminal behavior. These deals all compromise our nation’s security and our values. And President Trump has a lot of time left to go further. We have three years and two months to go. And what that is in Trump time. Eternity we have a look. We have a long time. It’s past time for Congress to step up and use the powers granted to them by the Constitution. President Trump should not be allowed to put a price tag on our national security.