Key Senator Eyes Adding Export Control, Sanctions Provisions to NDAA
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., proposed an amendment Sept. 4 that would add several export control and sanctions provisions to the pending FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, including a requirement that U.S. manufacturers of advanced AI chips make their products available to American firms before selling them to China and other “countries of concern.”
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The chip language, which Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced as the Guaranteeing Access and Innovation for National Artificial Intelligence Act, or Gain AI Act, last month, says that demand for advanced AI chips “far exceeds the supply,” forcing U.S. firms to wait “many months, if not longer,” to acquire them. At the same time, those chips are being sold to entities in U.S. arms embargoed countries, the Banks legislation says.
Wicker’s proposal would also add the Break Up Suspicious Transactions of Fentanyl Act, or Bust Fentanyl Act, which would authorize the president to sanction Chinese government-owned or controlled entities, including financial institutions, that finance foreign opioid trafficking. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Bust Fentanyl Act in March (see 2503270032).
Another addition to the NDAA would be the Countering Wrongful Detention Act, which would allow the State Department to impose sanctions and other penalties on countries that wrongfully detain Americans. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Countering Wrongful Detention Act in June (see 2506050066).
Wicker’s amendment also would repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, a sanctions law aimed at the then-Bashar Assad regime. The Foreign Relations Committee's top Democrat proposed such a repeal in June (see 2506200029).
It is unclear whether these provisions will ultimately clear the Senate, which plans to continue its deliberations on the NDAA the week of Sept. 8-12. During the same week, the House might take up its own version of the NDAA, including amendments (see 2508280046).