The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has approved bipartisan legislation that, if passed, would give Congress authority over AI chip exports.

The bill was first introduced by Representative Brian Mast of Florida, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in December, following President Donald Trump’s decision to approve shipments of Nvidia H200 chips to China.

Dubbed the AI Overwatch Act, if passed, the legislation would introduce a 30-day pause following the approval of an export license to a ”country of concern,” during which time the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee would be able to review and potentially block the issued license. The countries of concern, as defined by the bill, are China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.

Additionally, while the Trump administration has thus far only granted approval for the export of Nvidia H200 GPUs, Reuters reported that the bill also bans the export of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips.

Forty-two members of the committee voted to advance the bill, with two voting against, and one responding present. However, supporters of President Trump have criticized the bill, arguing that, should it pass into law, it would override Trump’s authority.

“We all agree that we are in an AI arms race,” Mast said. “So why wouldn’t we want to know what the AI arms dealers want to sell to our adversaries?”

"Companies like Nvidia are requesting to sell millions of advanced AI chips, which are the cutting edge of warfare, to Chinese military companies like Alibaba and Tencent. These are the same companies that work to spy against the United States of America, companies that the Chinese Communist Party uses to try and defeat the United States," he added. "This bill is very simple. It keeps America's advanced AI chips out of the hands of Chinese commie spies."

The Trump administration first granted permission for Nvidia to export its H200 chips to “approved customers” in China and other countries under certain conditions in early December, ultimately formalizing the approval earlier this month.

Under the regulations, chips will be tested in third-party labs to verify their technical capabilities before being exported. Exports will also be approved on a case-by-case basis and will not be permitted unless there is “sufficient supply” of the GPUs in the US, with the total number of exports to be capped at less than 50 percent of US customer volume. A 25 percent export tariff on the chips has also been introduced.