Top Democrats on the foreign affairs and armed services committees sounded off against President Donald Trump's latest turn toward China in a recent letter, according to a new report.
Fox News reported on Wednesday that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) sent a letter to Under Secretary for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler on Monday regarding Trump's decision to allow Nvidia to sell its H200 chips to China.
In the letter, the lawmakers flagged that the decision to sell H200 chips, widely regarded as the standard-bearer for AI technologies, appears to violate the Export Control Reform Act of 2018. The law outlines conditions for selling technology to military adversaries.
"The President directing you to approve licenses of the H200 falls within a deeply concerning pattern that undercuts our nation’s security," the letter reads in part.
Trump's decision to green-light the sale of H200 chips to China comes at a precarious time in the two countries' relationship. The U.S. economy is beginning to recover from a trade war Trump initiated earlier this year, during which China halted purchases of U.S. soybeans. The move caused significant harm to American farmers and forced the administration to create a $12 billion bailout program for farmers.
"In ECRA, Congress stated the policy of the United States is ‘to restrict the export of items which would make a significant contribution to the military potential of any other country,'" the letter added.
"Approving licenses for items like NVIDIA’s H200 chips, which the Justice Department recently described as ‘integral to modern military applications,’ would be deeply at odds with the policy that Congress articulated in ECRA."
