GOP senator urges Trump ban on Chinese AI for US contractors

Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick this week urging a ban on Chinese AI models for US government agencies and their contractors. In the letter, shared first with Semafor, Cotton wrote: "Backdoors may be embedded into open weight Chinese models, and auditing produces limited assurances. American companies, particularly those that do business with the US government, should never jeopardize our security for higher profits." The letter was sent Wednesday. Cotton framed his concerns broadly, citing the rising popularity of Chinese open-source AI models in the United States as a national security issue. Beyond the proposed ban, he urged the Commerce Department to implement strict export controls on advanced compute and chipmaking equipment—measures aimed at constraining China's ability to develop and deploy advanced AI systems. Cotton also called on the Trump administration to "actively nurture an open AI ecosystem in the US to rival" China's, arguing that the current landscape is imbalanced: leading US AI models are mostly closed proprietary systems, whereas China has developed a more open ecosystem that is easier for American companies to access and integrate. The Commerce Department did not return a request for comment on the letter, leaving the administration's official position on Cotton's proposals unclear.

Senator Cotton's letter reflects a widening national security debate within the Trump administration over Chinese technology's role in American infrastructure. The timing aligns with growing adoption of open-source Chinese AI models (such as those developed by companies like DeepSeek) among US developers and companies, driven by their accessibility and lower costs compared to proprietary American alternatives. Cotton's distinction between open-source and closed models is significant: he notes that leading US AI models are mostly closed (controlled by single companies), while China has built a more distributed open ecosystem that is easier for American firms to adopt—a competitive asymmetry he views as strategically dangerous when government and contractor systems are involved. The letter bundles three concerns: immediate security (backdoors in existing models), supply-chain vulnerability (chipmaking equipment), and strategic competition (the need for a US-led open AI alternative). Commerce Secretary Lutnick's lack of public response leaves the administration's stance unclear, though Cotton's framing—as a Republican with defense credentials—may carry weight in policy discussions.

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