Senators Urge Blocking AI Exports to China

A bipartisan group of senators led by Chris Coons (D-DE) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) has submitted a resolution urging President Donald Trump to preserve US advantages in frontier AI by keeping China from accessing the most advanced chips and models. The move follows Trump’s recent backtrack after a comment suggesting he might consider allowing Nvidia to sell its top-tier Blackwell chips in China.

The resolution — cosponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) — highlights concerns that China is trying to “close the AI gap and leap ahead,” and that its lack of access to high-end computing is the main impediment. It calls on the US government to keep enforcing export controls and to urge US companies to prioritize allies for access to advanced AI chips, cloud infrastructure, and models while blocking adversaries.

The push comes as export-control policy faces pressure: the senators cite national-security risks, and the article notes Trump has since reached a deal requiring Nvidia and AMD to pay a 15% commission on downgraded chips sold to China. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was quoted in a Financial Times interview saying “China is going to win the AI race,” later adding China is only “nanoseconds behind America,” while Chinese startups such as DeepSeek have recently released cost-efficient models that worry the industry.

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