Warren, Schumer, Colleagues Press Lutnick on Administration’s Decision to Sell Out US National and Economic Security by Greenlighting the Sale of H200 Chips to China
The Senators highlighted concerns from Department of Justice law enforcement officials about letting advanced AI chips fall into China’s hands; Question if Justice Department officials were involved in the decision
“The President’s dangerous decision to give away critical national security controls represents a significant departure from longstanding bipartisan efforts to ensure that U.S. technology does not turbocharge China’s military and technological capabilities.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, led six of her Democratic Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick raising concerns over the Trump Administration’s decision to disregard warnings from its own Department of Justice (DOJ) and allow NVIDIA to export its advanced H200 AI chips to China.
Other signers of the letter include Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
“The President’s dangerous decision to give away critical national security controls represents a significant departure from longstanding bipartisan efforts to ensure that U.S. technology does not turbocharge China’s military and technological capabilities,” wrote the Democratic Senators. “The PRC seeks NVIDIA’s H200s chips to develop and deploy AI systems, including for military and cyber operations.”
The Senators highlighted concerns from Trump’s own Department of Justice about letting advanced AI chips fall into China’s hands: “The Department confirmed that these advanced chips are the ‘building blocks of AI superiority’ that ‘are integral to modern military applications.’ The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas underscored that ‘[t]he country that controls these chips will control AI technology; the country that controls AI technology will control the future.’”
The Senators also raised alarms about the industry donations and backroom lobbying that led up to this critical national security decision: “The critical national security decision to allow the sale of H200s to China was made after a ‘charm offensive’ that reportedly included a backroom meeting, a donation to the Trump ballroom, and personal lobbying by NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang. The American public deserves to know that decisions with profound national security and economic consequences are being made by a deliberate, fact-based process that protects the national interest, rather than at donor dinners at Mar-a-Lago or at the behest of a well-connected CEO who stands to make enormous sums of money from the lifting of critical export controls.”
They continued: “During your confirmation hearing, you advocated for stronger export controls, saying ‘if they are going to compete with us, let them compete, but stop using our tools to compete with us.’ Unfortunately, under your tenure, the Department of Commerce appears to be handing out key favors that undermine our national security based on which corporate CEOs can do the best job of wooing President Trump.”
The Democratic Senators concluded by requesting answers to their questions on the decision to allow H200s to be sold to China no later than December 19, 2025.
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