WANA (Dec 05) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced new legislation aimed at preventing any easing of restrictions on the export of advanced artificial-intelligence chips to Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea—an effort that could complicate the Trump administration’s current approach to technology export controls.

 

Senator Tom Cotton, a prominent Republican critic of China, unveiled the proposal on Thursday. The bill would bar the U.S. government for two and a half years from adopting or signing any measures that would make access to AI chips easier for the four countries. The legislation, titled the “Secure Chips Act,” was sponsored by Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and Democratic Senator Chris Coons.

 

Under the bill, the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees export controls, would be required to deny any license applications for the sale or transfer of advanced U.S.-made AI chips to buyers based in China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea. Ricketts said in a statement, “Preventing Beijing from gaining access to America’s most advanced AI chips is essential to protecting our national security.”

WANA - Iran and China

The initiative is also backed by Republican Senator Dave McCormick and Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Andy Kim. It represents a rare cross-party push—largely driven by members of Trump’s own party—to halt further rollbacks of restrictions on technology exports to China.

 

In recent months, the U.S. Commerce Department imposed restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 AI chips following China’s export controls on rare-earth materials, which are critical to global technology supply chains, but later reversed the decision. The move drew criticism from Representative John Moolenaar, a Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on China.

 

As part of broader negotiations with Beijing over delaying China’s rare-earth export limits, President Trump postponed for one year the enforcement of rules restricting U.S. technology sales to Chinese corporate entities already placed on blacklists. He has also pledged to repeal a law passed during the Biden administration that set global limits on exports of advanced AI chips.

 

The senators’ proposal comes as the Trump administration is reportedly considering allowing sales of Nvidia’s more powerful H200 AI chips to China. Hardliners in Washington warn that Beijing could use these high-performance processors to strengthen AI-based weapons systems and expand its intelligence and surveillance capabilities. Meanwhile, China has accelerated efforts to boost its domestic production of advanced AI chips to reduce reliance on foreign technology.