Senate Democrat Slams Lutnick’s Handling of Export Controls
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., accused Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on June 8 of mismanaging U.S. export controls, citing “loopholes that may have allowed the most advanced AI chips to flow to companies with ties to China’s military.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Warren said the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new guidance clarifying that exporters need a license to send certain advanced chips to companies with China-based parents, even if the companies are located outside China (see 2606010019), “was actually a major bombshell” because it showed that entities linked to China's military, such as Alibaba, may have been using loopholes to skirt U.S. export controls and legally buy Nvidia’s advanced AI chips.
“Secretary Lutnick should appear before the committee to testify about the national security implications of his total mismanagement of the Commerce Department,” Warren wrote in a letter to Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Warren said Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent should also testify about AI policy more generally. While several non-government witnesses are scheduled to discuss AI before the panel June 11 (see 2606050050), she urged Scott to schedule a second hearing, so the committee can hear directly from Trump administration officials.
Chairman Scott’s office declined to comment. The Commerce and Treasury departments didn't respond to requests for comment.
Warren’s letter to Scott came days after she invited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to testify at the June 11 hearing. Huang declined, saying he's "unable to attend."