US, Dec 09 : President Donald Trump has approved conditional exports of NVIDIA’s high-end H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, a move that has sparked an intense political clash in Washington. The announcement, part of the evolving Trump NVIDIA H200 China deal, came with Trump insisting the arrangement preserves national security while boosting American jobs, even as Senator Elizabeth Warren issued a sharp warning that the policy could accelerate China’s technological and military rise.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he informed Chinese President Xi Jinping that the United States would permit NVIDIA to ship H200 chips to “approved customers” in China under stringent safeguards. He said Xi “responded positively,” framing the policy as beneficial for American workers and manufacturers.
According to Trump, the deal will generate revenue for the U.S. government. “$25% will be paid to the United States of America. This policy will support American Jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers,” he wrote.
Trump also used the announcement to criticize the prior Biden administration, accusing it of “forcing companies to build degraded products nobody wanted,” a policy he says hurt innovation and slowed America’s AI leadership. Declaring that “the era is over,” he said his administration would protect national security “while keeping America FIRST.”
He stressed that NVIDIA’s newest domestic offerings—its Blackwell and upcoming Rubin chip lines—are not included in the Trump NVIDIA H200 China deal, noting that U.S. companies are already moving forward with more advanced technologies. Trump added that the Department of Commerce is finalizing similar export frameworks for AMD, Intel, and other major chipmakers.
The decision drew an immediate and forceful response from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who accused the administration of prioritizing corporate influence. She tied the move to NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, alleging he secured the approval “after his meeting with Donald Trump and his company’s donation to the Trump ballroom.” Warren warned the decision “risks turbocharging China’s bid for technological and military dominance.”
She urged Congress to intervene quickly, calling for bipartisan legislation to limit the administration’s authority and for Huang to testify publicly under oath. Warren, along with Senator Andy Kim, had earlier pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to block H200 chip exports to China. A bipartisan group of lawmakers had also opposed resuming shipments of NVIDIA’s less advanced H20 chips.
The clash highlights a deepening policy divide in Washington over whether the U.S. should allow any frontier AI technology exports to China. NVIDIA’s H200 is among the world’s most powerful AI accelerators, widely used for training advanced models across commercial, scientific, and defense sectors.
Since 2022, the Biden administration imposed sweeping export controls to cut off China’s access to leading-edge semiconductor technology, while expanding domestic chip manufacturing through the CHIPS and Science Act. Those rules reshaped global supply chains and heightened geopolitical tension.
By contrast, the Trump administration is pursuing a conditional-export strategy aimed at capturing financial benefits and promoting domestic AI manufacturing, while asserting it can maintain national security safeguards.
The Trump NVIDIA H200 China deal comes as China continues to heavily invest in AI, semiconductor development, and military modernization advancements closely watched by U.S. policymakers and Indo-Pacific partners who view computing power as central to global strategic competition.