Donald Trump’s commerce secretary nominee on Wednesday said he aims to prevent China from using American technology, including semiconductor chips by Nvidia, to “compete with us” and vowed “across-the-board tariffs” to gain leverage against Beijing and other countries.
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Speaking at his confirmation hearing before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and addressing Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek’s strong showing, Howard Lutnick said he did “not believe DeepSeek was done all above board”.
“That’s nonsense. They stole things. They broke in. They’ve taken our IP and it’s got to end,” he told lawmakers, many of whom pushed him to explain how he would ensure US AI companies could keep a lead in an industry rattled by DeepSeek’s sudden success.
Vowing that “reciprocity” would guide his approach to commerce with China, Lutnick suggested a need for more restrictions on both chip exports to China and the hosting of American-made AI models on Chinese servers.
He said the servers might be among channels through which DeepSeek and other AI developers in China have advanced their products.
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The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.