【Wen / Observers Network, Yuan Jiaqi】
Last Tuesday (13th), the Trump administration of the United States formally approved NVIDIA's export of H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China with a 25% sales commission as a condition, but this has been strongly opposed by bipartisan pro-China hawkish legislators.
Just one week later, in order to seize the authority to review the sale of advanced AI chips to China, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a bipartisan joint proposal on Wednesday (21st) by an overwhelming majority. The bill explicitly requires that, similar to the military sales review model, the Congress should regulate the export of advanced AI chips.
According to a report by Bloomberg on the 22nd, under this bill, the U.S. government must notify Congress before approving the export of advanced AI chips; Congress then has the right to review and veto export licenses for China, Russia, Iran, and other so-called "hostile countries" through a joint resolution.
The bill also grants the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Banking Committee members the authority to access details about the quantity of chips to be exported and related end-user information.
The bill also establishes a licensing exemption mechanism, allowing certified U.S. "trusted" AI companies to enjoy exemptions when exporting chips to U.S. allies and neutral countries. The U.S. government is also required to submit a strategic report detailing its policy plan to maintain the U.S. leading position in AI competition.
In addition, the bill clearly stipulates that for at least the next two years, the sale of NVIDIA's more advanced Blackwell chips to China will be completely prohibited, while existing export control measures will be formally incorporated into legal provisions.
Trump meets with Huang Renxun, screenshot from video
According to reports, the bill was passed by the committee with 42 votes in favor and 2 against, and will now be submitted to the full House for voting. The bill still needs to be passed by both the House and Senate and signed by Trump to take effect.
Currently, the Senate has not introduced a corresponding bill, but some senators have separately submitted proposals, whose effectiveness may directly prohibit the sale of H200 chips to China.
The report points out that this proposal is the latest attempt by the U.S. Congress to limit the Trump administration's efforts to push NVIDIA and AMD back into the Chinese AI chip market. The spokesperson for NVIDIA has not yet responded to this matter.
On Wednesday, Gregory Meeks, the Democratic leader of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and co-sponsor of the bill, stated, "I have always been worried that the president's actions will not stop at approving the sale of H200 to China."
He added that the legislators hope "to send a clear message: America's national security, foreign policy, and core technological assets cannot be sold."
According to a report by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, John Moolenaar, the chairman of the so-called "China Issues Special Committee" of the House and a Republican congressman from Michigan, also expressed support for the advancement of the bill.
As a co-sponsor of the bill, Moolenaar praised, "The passage of this bill in the committee is a key step in defending America's technological advantage."
The report also mentioned that some Republican congressmen broke party lines to support the bill, fearing that Trump might approve the sale of more advanced chips to China during his visit to China planned for April. The public pointed out that the open betrayal of Republicans serves as a check on the president's power. This bipartisan legislative action is rare during Trump's term.
"Republican congressmen openly betraying their party to check the president's power," the report pointed out, adding that this bipartisan legislative action is rare during Trump's term.
This bill has also sparked fierce verbal attacks between the Trump camp and opponents.
David Sacks, the White House's artificial intelligence chief, publicly criticized the bill. Last week, he shared a post on social media platform X, which claimed that the bill was pushed by "anti-Trump" factions and former aides of the Obama and Biden administrations, aiming to weaken Trump's authority and undermine his "America First" agenda.
Within the Trump administration, supporters represented by Sacks have consistently argued that entering the Chinese market would lead Chinese companies to rely on American technology, thereby consolidating America's technological leadership, while allowing U.S. products to compete with similar products from Chinese companies like Huawei.
Trump's "mistress," far-right activist Laura Loomer, also posted on X criticizing the draft bill, claiming it "strips President Trump of control over the export of advanced AI chips," and accusing the bill of being "a destructive act disguised as regulation, actually pro-China."
Brian Mast, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and a Republican congressman from Florida, strongly criticized the forces opposing the bill, targeting Sacks, NVIDIA, and other White House allies.
At the committee's bill revision hearing on Wednesday, Mast asked, "We all agree that the world is currently in an AI arms race. If so, why don't we want to know what these AI 'arms dealers' plan to sell to our rivals?"
He also used the example of the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, warning that even if China only uses "second-rate or third-rate chips" from the U.S., they are "good enough" to beat the U.S. in the AI arms race.
Regarding the concerns raised by Congress, last week at a House hearing, Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, strongly defended the decision to export the chips. He directly retorted, saying, "The Chinese already have chips capable of being applied in all these areas."
As Trump's chief science and technology advisor, Kratsios reiterated that the government's move aims to suppress the development of China's local chip industry through commercial competition, praising the policy as achieving a balance between maintaining U.S. commercial interests and protecting cutting-edge core technologies. He specifically emphasized that the H200 chips approved for export to China are not the "best chips," and the most advanced models of NVIDIA will not be sold to China.
Kratsios also refuted concerns about potential shortages of domestic supply. He claimed that the Trump administration will not allow unrestricted procurement by China, and the total volume of chip exports to China will be limited to 50% of the amount purchased by U.S. customers.
He further pointed out that the usage scope of the chips will also be strictly restricted geographically. Chinese companies will be prohibited from using H200 chips to build data centers overseas, to prevent them from competing with U.S. super-scale data center operators like Amazon.
Kratsios explained, "If a large Chinese tech company wants to build a data center in Malaysia, it can't purchase H200 chips for that project. These chips can only be used within facilities located in China."
U.S. legislators truly believe that their chips are good, but the awkward fact is whether China will buy them remains unknown. Huang Renxun previously admitted that he was unsure whether China would accept the H200. White House's Sacks also acknowledged that China "wants to achieve semiconductor independence."
Bloomberg pointed out that as the largest semiconductor market, China is seeking to develop its own chip industry and reduce dependence on U.S. products.
On January 15th, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning responded, stating that China has repeatedly expressed its position on the issue of U.S. chip exports to China and tariff issues.
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Original: toutiao.com/article/7598017898082222607/
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