Speaker Johnson Says China’s Nvidia Ban Is Counterproductive to US–China Relations

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Sep 18, 2025 - 09:56 Updated: Sep 18, 2025 - 02:29
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Speaker Johnson Says China’s Nvidia Ban Is Counterproductive to US–China Relations

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Sept. 17 that China’s announcement about its domestic tech companies not buying Nvidia chips does not benefit the bilateral relationship.

“It’s a very, I think, counterproductive development for what they’ve announced about Nvidia, and we’ve got to work through that,” Johnson said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program.
The Financial Times had reported that the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered tech companies not to buy Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D chip, designed specifically for China, which was made to comply with U.S. export controls.

Johnson said that the United States has not been provocative in its relationship with China, but the Chinese regime may have other ideas.

“If China wants to begin a trade war or make these relationships more complicated, it’s their prerogative to do so,” Johnson said. “But we have to face China very seriously, and we do.”

He said this administration and Congress were clear-eyed on China as a “peer-to-peer adversary” in a race in many strategic areas.

Johnson also criticized the Chinese regime for breaking past trade agreements and ongoing state-backed intellectual property theft.

“China is not a fair trading partner. They’re a communist regime. They steal our intellectual property. They have no regard whatsoever for U.S. trademark law or any of the other provisions that make for fair trade agreements,” he said.

“So it is not the fault of the United States that there are these strained relations; it is the fault of China.”

The Trump administration had in April sought to restrict Nvidia’s sales of H20 chips to China, a move lauded by bipartisan lawmakers in favor of strict export controls on key technologies to China. The administration then faced criticism as it changed course after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made overtures and estimated billions in losses.

Then, on July 31, the Cyberspace Administration of China summoned Nvidia for questioning and announced that it was investigating the chip designer over “serious security issues” and concerns about location tracking and remote-shutdown capabilities. This prompted Nvidia to publicly refute the claims in a statement, saying Nvidia chips have and would never include backdoors.

Chinese tech companies were already being warned not to purchase Nvidia chips, with Chinese state-run media circulating editorials that encouraged domestic tech companies to choose other chips.
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In August, Nvidia and chip company AMD agreed to a revenue-share agreement that would see the United States receive 15 percent of chip sales to China in exchange for export licenses. Huang previewed a new China-only product on the heels of that announcement, saying it was under U.S. review.
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On Sept. 15, as U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators met in Madrid, Beijing announced it would extend the investigation into Nvidia that it began last December for violating China’s anti-monopoly law.

The announcement came as the negotiators hammered out a framework to allow ByteDance to sell TikTok to U.S. companies, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the announcement was “poor timing.”

On Wednesday, Huang told reporters in London that he was disappointed by the report of a ban on Nvidia chip purchases.

“We can only be in service of a market if the country wants us to be,” he said.

“I’m disappointed with what I see, but they have larger agendas to work out between China and the United States, and I’m patient about it. We'll continue to be supportive of the Chinese government and Chinese companies as they wish.”

Reuters contributed to this report.
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