White House officials said on Wednesday that the Trump administration is considering imposing export restrictions on China and banning the purchase of large quantities of key software.
Previously, Reuters reported that if China does not withdraw its threat to restrict rare earth exports, the United States will consider taking measures similar to those imposed on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Previously, the United States acknowledged this news. The source requested anonymity to disclose in detail the internal deliberations.
“All the plans are under discussion,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later told reporters when asked about restricting software exports to China. If these export control measures come into effect, whether in software, engines or other aspects, we are likely to coordinate with our G7 Allies.
Reuters’ report did not elaborate on specific restrictive measures or a clear timetable for the new measures to be announced soon, but in recent years the United States has imposed export controls on Russia for enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and computer-aided design software.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on possible software restrictions or Besant’s commitment to cooperation with the G7.
It is still unclear how forceful this measure will be. Any technological restrictions targeting China could disrupt the fragile US economy, which is currently being hit by President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Bessent added that senior US officials negotiated with the Chinese government “with good intentions” and “with great respect”.
It is still unclear whether these restrictions are aimed at the export of specific US software or will take the form of expanding the Foreign Direct Product Rules (FDI) to include foreign products produced using specific US software or technology. The distinction between the two is crucial: the former only affects a small portion of US software exports, while the latter will significantly expand the jurisdiction and compliance risks of the United States in the global supply chain.
Michael Deng, a geoeconomic and technical analyst, said that under the current export control rules, software restrictions are possible, but they will be difficult to enforce due to the limited capacity of the government departments responsible for enforcing these rules, such as the Industry and Security Bureau, and the already stretched licensing system.
Niraj Patel, a senior technology industry analyst, wrote that the ban on “critical software” would mean Cadence Design Systems Inc., Dassault Systemes and Synopsys Inc. Sales in China face greater risks. He added, “Other areas that could be listed as key include NVIDIA’s toolkit (CUDA), artificial intelligence platform (OpenAI), cryptography or encryption technology (NXP and Palo Alto Networks), firmware tools (ARM Compiler), and telecommunications (Qualcomm).”
I think there will be some progress. “Our relationship is very good, but this will be a major meeting,” the president added.
