On March 14, foreign media outlets reported that, based on information from a government website, the U.S. Department of Commerce retracted a proposed rule concerning AI chip exports on Friday. Initially, this draft rule was designed to govern worldwide access to AI chips and had been submitted to other agencies for feedback by the end of February. Nevertheless, the website failed to elucidate the reasons behind this retraction, and a spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Commerce remained unresponsive to inquiries for further explanation.

This retraction represents yet another setback for the Trump administration in its ongoing attempts to overturn and substitute the AI chip export framework that was instituted by the Biden administration in January 2025. Titled "Implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Action Plan," this rule was initially posted on the website of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on February 26, where it was labeled as "under review" prior to its withdrawal.

The document disclosed that the plan had contemplated imposing conditions, such as foreign investment in U.S. data centers or security assurances, as prerequisites for approving the export of 200,000 or more chips. On Friday, a former official remarked that the retraction of the latest proposed rule likely mirrors internal governmental discord regarding the best approach to achieving global AI supremacy while simultaneously addressing national security apprehensions.