The US government’s 15% revenue-sharing agreement with Nvidia and AMD on Chinese chip sales has raised constitutional concerns, as the White House may have overstepped its authority under Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution. The “export clause” prohibits taxes or duties on articles exported from any state.
Historically, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of businesses when faced with export tax proposals, citing the export clause. However, the current court may take a different stance, particularly considering the power of the Executive branch.
With China and the US engaging in ongoing trade tensions, Beijing’s willingness to accept or reject the agreement remains uncertain. Some experts suggest that Putin will try to expand talks by offering trade deals to Trump, while others believe that Ukraine and Europe will not accept any kind of “swap” that results in Russia permanently occupying Ukrainian territory.
In other news, a crypto exchange’s IPO soared 84% as its stock was temporarily paused from trading, with the expectation of a rise of around 30%. Crypto is eating into banks’ lending assets as stablecoins become increasingly popular, requiring payments to be used for bond purchases. Additionally, AI search engine Perplexity has rolled out its new Comet engine, but companies report limited significant bottom-line impact from AI investments.
The markets are flat today, with S&P 500 futures remaining unchanged after the index closed up 0.32% yesterday. The US dollar rose to $121.7K against Bitcoin as investors monitor global trade tensions and economic shifts.
Source: https://fortune.com/2025/08/14/theres-a-small-problem-with-trumps-export-deal-with-nvidia-and-amd-the-constitution-says-its-illegal