Congress blinks on AI and China national security fears

The big picture: China hawks continue to raise concerns with tech-related national security threats, but by and large have stopped short of challenging the president and his dealmaking on several moves that national security experts say are potentially dangerous, including:

• Nvidia and AMD AI chip sales to China.
• AI chip sales to the UAE.
• The handling of the TikTok sale-or-ban law.

Behind the scenes: Democrats on key committees told Axios they want Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to testify before lawmakers on the company's deal with Trump to allow the sale of H20 chips to China.

• "When it comes to China, this administration has repeatedly caved, putting Chinese demands and corporate profits over our national security," Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said.
• That effort has fizzled out, with no Republican buy-in on a Democratic push to bring Huang in front of lawmakers, according to the office of Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Nvidia and Trump administration officials say that making sure U.S. tech stacks are serving the Chinese market is a competitive advantage and good for national security because companies will rely on American tech instead of an adversary's like Huawei.

• One China hawk is still trying to influence the White House publicly, however: House China Select Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) opposes lifting the ban on Nvidia's H20 chip sales to China.
• He has pitched a new approach to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on AI chip exports as well as a security framework for chip sales to the UAE.

Legislative efforts around AI chips and banning Chinese tech face steep odds, but one bill could move this year in Congress.

• The GAIN AI Act from Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) is in play for the must-pass annual defense policy package.
• The bill would require U.S. chipmakers like Nvidia to give U.S. buyers first dibs before international ones.
• It doesn't directly restrict chip exports to China, though Banks is a proponent of that.

What they're saying: A spokesperson for Banks said that the senator "believes President Trump is the strongest president we've ever had on China, and he trusts the president's judgment."

• Chris MacKenzie of Americans for Responsible Innovation, a nonprofit focused on policy advocacy for emerging tech, said the GAIN AI Act is "a legislative strategy where Congress can take back some control over what technology we're exporting to China without going against the president's H20 policy."

The president's delays on TikTok have also been particularly painful for China hawks.

• Republicans watched Trump flout the TikTok law again and again without taking legislative or legal action, only expressing some frustration with the administration.
• Back in June, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) told Axios the deadline to reach a deal that month would be an "inflection point." But that deadline came and went.
• LaHood and other members say they're focused on a bill to ban the Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek on government devices, but it's not in the defense package as of now.
• That's likely the only viable vehicle remaining in the few legislative days that are left this year as a government shutdown looms.

The bottom line: Republicans' lack of big swings on China and tech fit the larger pattern of a GOP-controlled Congress yielding its authority and showing deference to Trump.