WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader; Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Chris Coons (D-DE), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to President Trump urging him to reverse his recent decision to allow AMD and Nvidia to sell advanced AI semiconductor chips to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for a fee.

The senators emphasized that such sales “run counter to U.S. national security interests” and highlighted concerns that the collection of fees may violate U.S. statutes and possibly the Constitution.

The letter cites the president’s August 11, 2025, statement regarding a “negotiated deal” in which a 15 percent fee would be charged to enable these sales. The senators noted that U.S. export laws explicitly prohibit fees “in connection with the submission, processing, or consideration of any application for a license or other authorization or other request.”

The senators wrote that U.S. national security relies on protecting America’s advantage in AI computing capability and access to leading-edge hardware. They warned that advanced AI chips sold to China could be used to strengthen its military systems, including hypersonics, communications, surveillance, and battlefield decision-making.

“Our national security and military readiness relies upon American innovators inventing and producing the best technology in the world, and in maintaining that qualitative advantage in sensitive domains. The United States has historically been successful in maintaining and building that advantage because of, in part, our ability to deny adversaries access to those technologies,” wrote the senators. “The willingness displayed in this arrangement to ‘negotiate’ away America’s competitive edge that is key to our national security in exchange for what is, in effect, a commission on a sale of AI-enabling technology to our main global competitor, is cause for serious alarm.”

The letter also requests detailed information from the administration by August 22 regarding the negotiation, legality, collection, and intended use of the proposed 15 percent fee, as well as whether similar arrangements are being considered for other companies.

The senators concluded, “We again urge your administration to quickly reverse course and abandon this reckless plan to trade away U.S. technology leadership.”

The letter follows an earlier missive to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on July 28, urging the against the sales.

The full text of today’s letter is available here. 

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