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U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to grant Nvidia licenses to ship some of its more powerful artificial intelligence chips to China is ruffling the feathers of some of Washington’s most prominent China hawks, including members of his own party.
The pushback intensified this week with the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee advancing a bill that seeks to expand congressional oversight of AI chip exports.
The proposal, known as the AI Overwatch Act, was introduced last month by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., the committee chairman.
It would require both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Banking Committee to approve any shipment licenses for advanced chips in 30 days, giving lawmakers the power to block sales through a joint resolution.
The bill comes as the Trump Administration plans to grant licenses allowing Nvidia to sell its H200 chips to China, which are far more powerful than the processors previously permitted for export.
If passed, the AI Overwatch Act would revoke existing licenses for such AI chip transfers and impose a temporary ban until the administration submits a national security strategy on AI exports. It includes exemptions for “trusted” U.S. companies shipping chips abroad under U.S. control, provided they meet security standards.
“Companies like Nvidia are requesting to sell millions of advanced AI chips, which are the cutting edge of warfare, to Chinese military companies like Alibaba and Tencent,” said Chairman Mast, framing it as a national security risk.
The bill was also cosponsored by the Republican Chairman of the Select Committee on China, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who called it a “critical step toward protecting America’s technological edge.”
Still, it remains unclear the extent of support that the AI Overwatch Act can attract in the House and Senate.
Disagreement in Washington
The act is likely to serve as a linchpin in a larger battle developing in Washington between lawmakers who see Nvidia chip exports as a national security risk and officials who argue that the exports help maintain U.S. technological dominance.
Among the latter camp is White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, who has already criticized the AI Overwatch Act. The Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor recently reposted a viral social media claim that the bill would undermine Trump’s authority over AI chip exports.
Sacks and those in the Trump administration who support more Nvidia shipments overseas have argued that U.S. chip restrictions have been counterproductive and have ceded ground to Chinese competitors.
Instead, they say it is advantageous for U.S.-designed chips to remain at the center of global AI infrastructure. This is consistent with arguments made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and industry lobbyists.
Bipartisan lawmakers on the other side, however, have argued that Nvidia’s H200s could bolster China’s AI capabilities and be leveraged by its military.
Current U.S. chip controls require individual licenses from the Commerce Department for any exports or transfers of high-performance AI chips to entities in “countries of concern,” including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
These controls have covered Nvidia’s H200, one of its most powerful AI chips. But last week, Trump confirmed his administration would approve sales of the processors to China, provided the U.S. receives a 25% cut of the proceeds.
Mounting pushback
Much of the pushback from lawmakers has come from the opposition party. In December, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., criticized Trump’s approval of H200 exports as evidence of a “haphazard and transactional approach” lacking a coherent strategy against China.
“American companies must remain the undisputed leader in AI hardware because our strategic competition with China on AI will boil down to whose ecosystem drives adoption and innovation globally,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has also warned that China seeks such chips for military modernization, weapons design and AI surveillance, citing Justice Department assessments.
However, Trump has also faced bipartisan resistance. Before the H200, the president had also announced he would allow Nvidia to resume its sales of the H20 to China, a chip the President had restricted just months earlier.
At the time, lawmakers had also responded with additional AI chip proposals, including the GAIN AI Act, introduced in November by a bipartisan group that included Warren and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. The bill would require U.S. firms to prioritize domestic sales of advanced chips before exporting to China.
Despite Trump’s policy shifts on chip exports, Chinese regulators have not allowed Nvidia’s chips to flow back into the country freely.
Reuters reported last week that Chinese customs authorities have been instructed to block imports of H200 chips and warned tech companies against purchasing them unless necessary.
