U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs ranking member invokes ECRA to demand Commerce information on planned NVIDIA H200 export licences to China

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Congressman Gregory Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, sent a letter to Department of Commerce Under Secretary for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler demanding statutory disclosures about the Administration’s intention to approve exports of advanced AI chips, including NVIDIA’s H200, to China. The request cites the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA) and seeks information underlying prospective export licensing decisions under the Export Administration Regulations. Under ECRA, Commerce must provide information obtained in administering the Export Administration Regulations when requested by the chair or ranking minority member of an appropriate committee or subcommittee, including licence applications and the approvals, conditions and supporting evidence used to justify licensing decisions. The lawmakers framed the request as necessary due to national security concerns about the military application potential of advanced chips, and referenced a recent approval for exports of tens of thousands of advanced AI chips, estimated at USD 1 billion, to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The letter asks for the requested materials by January 12, 2026 and requests a briefing to the lawmakers’ committees before any H200 export licence is approved.