By By Alexandra Alper
Publication Date: 2026-01-14 19:00:00
By Alexandra Alper
WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers and former officials on Wednesday questioned President Donald Trump’s decision to allow Nvidia to sell its second most powerful AI chips in China, arguing the move erodes America’s AI edge and threatens to electrify Beijing’s military.
The Trump administration on Tuesday gave a formal green light to China-bound sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips, putting in place a rule that will likely kick-start shipments of the H200 despite deep concerns among China hawks in Washington.
Matt Pottinger, who served as a senior White House Asia advisor during Trump’s first term, told a congressional hearing that the administration is on the “wrong track” on AI and that its decision to allow the chip sales will damage its goal of winning the AI race.
Selling H200s to China “will supercharge Beijing’s military modernization, enhancing capabilities in everything from nuclear weapons to cyber warfare, autonomous drones, biological warfare and intelligence and influence operations,” he said. “Congress needs to put guardrails in place so that this mistake can’t be repeated,” he added.
Some Republican lawmakers echoed his concerns, without explicitly condemning the policy change.
“You cannot sell military-grade AI technology to China,” Michael McCaul said, without referencing H200s specifically. “They steal so much intellectual property from this country but we…