politics
Commerce Secretary Testifies on U.S. AI Chip Export Restrictions to China Amid Trade Talks
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee, stating the U.S. is not selling its most advanced AI chips to China. He addressed concerns from senators about export restrictions and ongoing trade negotiations. The testimony aligns with the Trump administration's policies amid a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Substrate placeholder — needs reviewAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday about President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget request, assuring lawmakers that the United States is not sending its best chips to China in line with the Trump administration’s export restrictions on advanced artificial intelligence chips.
“I want to be crystal clear: We are not selling our best chips to China under any circumstance,” Lutnick said to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Lutnick assured the congressional panel that the U.S. is not selling Nvidia’s Blackwell chips and that the Chinese government or state-affiliated companies are not buying any chips from that brand. A senator pressed the commerce secretary, saying she had unspecified intelligence that said the U.S. was exporting top-quality chips to China.
“They have not bought any as of today,” Lutnick responded. In January, the Trump administration approved the export of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China on certain conditions. U.S.-based Nvidia has not sold any H200 chips to Chinese state-affiliated companies.
“My understanding is their cloud companies want to buy these chips,” Lutnick told Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). “The Chinese central government has not let them, as of yet, buy the chips because they’re trying to keep their investment focused on their own domestic industry,” he added to Coons.
Lutnick noted that Nvidia’s H200 chips are not as advanced as those in the Blackwell brand. “We’re not giving them the absolute best, the most cutting edge, but we’re giving them incredibly powerful chips that they don’t otherwise have access to,” Coons said in summarizing Lutnick’s response.
