GoKawiilU.S. President Donald J. Trump meets with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a visit to Qasr al Watan (Palace of the Nation) on May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The Commerce Department on Friday moved toward easing export controls on the United Arab Emirates, including by saying it will "favorably review" export license applications for MGX, the UAE-backed investment firm that used a stablecoin linked to President Donald Trump's family for its $2 billion investment in Binance .
An unpublished version of a new 17-page rule viewable in the Federal Register includes one sentence about Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security favorably reviewing applications involving MGX semiconductors and servers bound for the UAE.
The rule is scheduled to be officially published on Tuesday, July 14.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, quickly blasted the new rule, calling it "corrupt" because of MGX's use of a Trump-connected stablecoin.
MGX used USD1, a stablecoin issued by the Trump family-affiliated World Liberty Financial, to complete its investment in Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by daily volume.
The transaction provided a major source of business for the newly launched USD1, and fueled questions about whether Trump's financial interests could influence U.S. policy toward the UAE.
MGX is also a backer of AI juggernauts OpenAI and Anthropic.
The broader rule also gives the UAE government, Abu Dhabi AI conglomerate G42 and its cloud subsidiary Core42 access to license exceptions for certain advanced-computing equipment.
The Commerce Department, in a statement, said that it "will significantly upgrade the status of the United Arab Emirates" under export regulations "in recognition of the UAE's status as a U.S. Major Defense Partner and its support in advancing U.S. national security interests, including Operation Epic Fury," the war against Iran.
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