U.S. export restrictions on tech to China still exist. But on those items, Chinese companies can simply turn to friendlies in Singapore. Or, like the pirates of old, China can create a black market for chips. Some Nvidia chips faced export restrictions even in the Biden years.

Trump said Monday that he has cut a deal with chipmaker Nvidia, allowing it to sell certain artificial intelligence chips to China in exchange for a cut of the revenue, which would go to the U.S. government. Trump said he also negotiated a similar deal with chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).