Kamlager-Dove, Krishnamoorthi Introduce Legislation to Stop Trump’s Illegal Pay-to-Play Scheme with Export Controls Licenses

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia with jurisdiction over the Bureau of Industry and Security, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Ranking Member of the Select Committee on the C.C.P., introduced legislation to prevent the Trump Administration from illegally imposing fees in exchange for export control licenses. This action follows Trump's recent announcement that he intends to charge Nvidia and AMD 15% of their revenue for H20 and MI308 chips sold to China.

"Trump cannot keep brazenly violating the law and putting his deal-making ego above America's security. The constitution and existing law clearly ban the Administration's move to charge a fee in exchange for the ability to export dual-use technologies abroad, and for good reason," said Rep. Kamlager-Dove. "Profit-sharing agreements can set a dangerous precedent in which export licenses are sold to the highest bidder instead of rooted in national security considerations and U.S. businesses are extorted by their own government to compete overseas. With our national security and economic competitiveness at stake, it's time for Congress to force the Administration to follow the rule of law-and that's exactly what my bill does."

"Export controls exist to protect our national security, not to become bargaining chips for revenue," said Rep. Krishnamoorthi. "While the recently announced 15% profit-sharing arrangements are clearly unlawful, this bill provides a new pathway to enforcing the law. We must ensure our technology stays out of the wrong hands and that our enforcement reflects both the letter and the spirit of the law."

Specifically, the BIS License Fee Prohibition Act mandates that any fee charged in connection to an export controls license cannot be collected or obligated and must be returned to the license holder-providing an enforcement mechanism for the constitutional and Export Controls Reform Act prohibitions on license application fees.

This legislation follows public reporting that the U.S. government is currently drafting regulation to implement Trump's illegal 15% revenue-sharing deal. You can read the bill text here.

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