Rep. Gregory Meeks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren challenge H200 chip exports
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Democrats in Congress are raising alarm over the fact that the United States may soon start selling cutting-edge chips to one of its biggest geopolitical rivals.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-Mass., joined by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote a letter to Undersecretary for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler on Monday demanding answers about why the Trump administration greenlit the sale of the H200 Chip to China.
“The President’s directing you to approve H200 licenses falls into a deeply concerning pattern of undermining our nation’s security,” the two Democrats wrote.
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U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks, DY, during a meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on February 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty)
Meeks said the basis for his request lies in the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) of 2018, which regulates the federal government’s authority over technology-related exports. ECRA states that the Department of Commerce must provide Congress with responses to concerns raised by senior members of the foreign affairs and armed services committees.
“In ECRA, Congress stated that it was the policy of the United States to ‘restrict the export of items that would make a significant contribution to the military potential of any other country,'” Meeks said. he wrote.
“Approving licenses for items like NVIDIA’s H200 chips, which the Department of Justice recently described as ‘integral to modern military applications,’ would be deeply at odds with the policy articulated by Congress in ECRA.”
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NVIDIA’s powerful H100 GPU heads to space aboard Starcloud-1 to test AI data processing in orbit. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
One of the world’s most advanced computing devices, the H200 chip is NVIDIA’s flagship product. It plays an important role in the processes required for increasingly complex artificial intelligence.
The company was first ordered to stop sales to China in 2022 under the Biden administration.
” [government] “The new licensing requirement will address the risk that covered products may be used or diverted for ‘military end use’ or ‘military end user’ purposes in China,” the company said. in a filing.
Like Meeks, many lawmakers worry that allowing them to be sold to China would further empower an enemy that is unafraid to weaponize technology. In recent years, Congress has banned the use of Chinese-made Huawei devices for government employees and last year passed a law forcing the divestment of TikTok, fearing China’s far-reaching insight through data collected by the popular social media app.
According to Meeks, the decision to continue sales of the H200 chip to China and other potential competitors seems out of step with past caution.
“Just last month, you approved the export of tens of thousands of advanced artificial intelligence chips to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with an estimated value of $1 billion, despite significant concerns about those countries’ human rights records and close relations with the United Arab Emirates. [People’s Republic of China],” Meeks wrote.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren and progressives are taking on what they see as Nvidia’s outsized influence on the AI chip market. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
While some Republicans shared Meeks’ hesitation, others said the Trump administration’s retreat fits into a larger plan to ensure America’s competitiveness for years to come.
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Meeks and Warren requested a response from the administration on what factors led to the decision by January 12, 2026.
