American Compass Releases Framework for America-First Chip Export Controls

American Compass today released “Stop Selling the Rope: Protecting American AI Dominance from China’s Globalization Playbook,” a policy framework calling for a complete prohibition on the sale of advanced AI chips and advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China. The paper presents an unequivocal America First strategy to maintain decisive U.S. advantages in artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology.

The paper comes at a critical juncture, as the Chinese Communist Party works tirelessly to close the gap with the United States in AI technology. The same arguments being made today for engaging China’s market were made in 1999 and have proven disastrously wrong across multiple industries. Rather than successfully “addict” China to American technology, the paper documents how China consistently follows a playbook of Acquire → Indigenize → Dominate → Weaponize, obtaining foreign technology through joint ventures, developing domestic alternatives, using predatory subsidies to destroy global competition, then leveraging market dominance for geopolitical ends. Selling advanced AI technology to China repeats the same mistakes that led to U.S. losses in solar panels, telecommunications, rare earths, and other critical sectors over the past quarter-century.

The paper proposes five concrete measures to secure American leadership:

1. Prohibit the sale of advanced AI chips to PRC-based entities
2. Prohibit the sale of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to PRC-based entities 
3. Increase enforcement resources at the Bureau of Industry and Security, whose current budget is dwarfed by documented smuggling profits
4. Mandate location verification for controlled semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment
5. Establish secure channels for reporting export violations

Click here to read the full paper.