Trump pauses export controls to bolster China trade deal, FT says

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(Reuters) -The U.S. has paused curbs on tech exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure a meeting with President Xi Jinping this year, the Financial Times said on Monday.

The industry and security bureau of the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, has been told in recent months to avoid tough moves on China, the newspaper said, citing current and former officials.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The White House and the department did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside business hours.

Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials are set to resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world’s top two economies.

Tech giant Nvidia said this month it would resume sales of its H20 graphics processing units (GPU) to China, reversing an export curb the Trump administration imposed in April to keep advanced AI chips out of Chinese hands over national security concerns.

The planned resumption was part of U.S. negotiations on rare earths and magnets, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said.

The paper said 20 security experts and former officials, including former deputy US national security adviser Matt Pottinger, will write on Monday to Lutnick to voice concern, however.

“This move represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States’ economic and military edge in artificial intelligence,” they write in the letter, it added.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue and Clarence Fernandez)