‘The Quid Pro Quo Arrangement Is Unprecedented’

Demetri Sevastopulo and Michael Acton, reporting for the Financial Times:

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the US government 15 per cent of the revenues from chip sales in China, as part of an unusual arrangement with the Trump administration to obtain export licences for the semiconductors. [...]

The quid pro quo arrangement is unprecedented. According to export control experts, no US company has ever agreed to pay a portion of their revenues to obtain export licences.

But the deal fits a pattern in the Trump administration where the president urges companies to take measures, such as domestic investments, for example, to prevent the imposition of tariffs in an effort to bring in jobs and revenue to America.

This FT report starts out on shaky ground, using the same “unusual agreement” euphemism as the WSJ and NYT reports, but they soon found a little backbone with “The quid pro quo arrangement is unprecedented.”

This is not merely unusual. It is unprecedented. Seemingly, too, plainly unconstitutional.

Quipped a friend: “Nvidia and AMD’s general counsels must be wondering how much of this money they can eventually get back, if we ever reverse the banana republic index.”

★ Monday, 11 August 2025