China Select Committee Chair Proposes Export Controls for US-UAE AI Deal
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged the Trump administration June 27 to impose several export-related restrictions as it implements new AI deals with the United Arab Emirates and other countries.
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In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Moolenaar said that such controls are needed to prevent sensitive technology from ending up in China’s hands.
China “may try to exploit historic ties to the UAE (or other partners) to gain access to U.S. compute, either through influence or more aggressive means,” Moolenaar wrote. “Even U.S.-owned data centers overseas must be protected from compromise. Any agreement must also preserve U.S. flexibility to revise terms as threats evolve.”
Moolenaar would require advanced computing chips to contain location verification mechanisms. If the chips were tampered with or diverted to China, manufacturers would have to notify the Commerce Department.
Also under his proposal, AI deals would be based on aggregate computational power, not annual chip caps. "The reported export cap of 500,000 advanced chips per year to the UAE may appear fixed, but chip capability will increase dramatically over time," Moolenaar wrote.
Moolenaar would bar Chinese equipment and personnel from advanced AI data centers, which would have to have robust cyber and physical security measures. No more than 49% of advanced U.S. compute capacity could be located overseas, and no more than 10% could be hosted in countries that are not U.S. treaty allies. Training of all frontier models would have to occur in the U.S.
Partners would have to adopt U.S.-equivalent export controls and "robust" inbound and outbound investment screening and restrictions. For example, Moolenaar believes the UAE should be restricted from investing in China's AI and chip industries.
The UAE agreement, unveiled in May, envisions a new 5GW UAE-U.S. AI technology cluster in Abu Dhabi (see 2505150063). The Trump administration has insisted that the deal will provide “strong protections to prevent the diversion of U.S.-origin technology” (see 2505190041).