Lawmakers Vary on Trump Admin's Plans to Replace AI Diffusion Export Control Rule
Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., welcomed the Trump administration’s decision to rescind and replace the Biden administration’s AI diffusion rule (see 2505070039), while House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., offered a more guarded response.
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Cruz said while chairing a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on AI May 8 that the rule “would have crippled American tech companies’ ability to sell AI to the world” and would have “handed over key markets to China. We should want foreign countries, particularly our allies, to buy American.”
Ricketts, who urged the Commerce Department in April to replace the “burdensome” rule (see 2504140054), said in a statement late May 7 that he looks forward to “working with the administration to propose a new rule that grows America’s AI leadership and promotes partnership with our friends and allies. We must prevent Communist China from capturing the world market and taking the lead on this technology. We must also make America the world capital of AI.”
Moolenaar, who endorsed the rule in January (see 2501070010), tweeted May 8 that his panel continues to favor “strong restrictions” on China’s access to advanced U.S. chips, including improved efforts to prevent circumvention. He said his committee plans to review the administration’s "next steps" on the matter, as well as pursue bipartisan legislation.