Kamlager-Dove, Meeks Demand Answers from Lutnick on Trump's Financial Interests Surrounding UAE Export Control Decisions

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, and Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY-05), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick demanding answers on the financial conflicts of interest surrounding the department's decision to significantly loosen export controls on the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On July 10, the Bureau of Industry and Security said it would upgrade the UAE's export control status from a category for countries with proliferation concerns to one reserved for the United States' most trusted export control partners. This decision came after bombshell reporting in January showed that an Abu Dhabi royal bought a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto firm, shortly before Trump approved sending 500,000 advanced AI chips to the UAE, including 100,000 for an AI company owned by the same royal.

"The Department has upgraded the UAE from a proliferation concern to a trusted partner without providing a justification or evidence that the UAE has fully cut off AI and technology cooperation with China. In fact, there remain significant concerns about whether UAE companies such as G42 have adopted sufficient safeguards to prevent diversion to China," wrote the lawmakers.

"The reclassification raises serious questions about the Department's review process, the criteria used to support its determination, and whether political influence played a role in the decision. These concerns are heightened given President Trump and his family's conflicts of interest related to the UAE," the lawmakers continued.

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in July, Rep. Kamlager-Dove asked Under Secretary Kessler if he or Secretary Lutnick had any conversations with representatives of World Liberty Financial or members of President Trump's family regarding export restrictions on the UAE. Kessler testified that he had not participated in conversations but did not answer whether Lutnick had. In response, the letter asks Secretary Lutnick to respond to the following questions:

1. Have you ever participated in any conversation with a representative of World Liberty Financial or a member of the President's family regarding export restrictions or export control policy affecting the United Arab Emirates?
2. Did the President or other White House staff ask you or staff at the Bureau of Industry and Security to reclassify the UAE in BIS's export control country groups?
3. Did the Departments of State, Energy, and Defense sign off the UAE's reclassification or was it a decision solely of the Department of Commerce?
4. Please describe the interagency review and process that ultimately led to the decision to reclassify the UAE to Country Group A:5. In addition, please provide all memoranda, legal analyses, interagency recommendations, intelligence assessments, and other documents relied upon in making this determination, including any records reflecting concurrence or dissent by participating agencies.
5. What specific changes in the UAE's conduct, regulations, or policies, including toward the People's Republic of China, led the Department to conclude that the UAE no longer posed a proliferation or diversion risk?
6. Please share the text of any government-to-government agreements or Memoranda of Understanding the Administration has struck with the UAE government related to export controls and/or the risk of proliferation or diversion.

Read the full letter here.

This is the second letter the representatives have led on the financial conflicts of interest surrounding the administration's export controls on the UAE. The first letter, sent in February, demanded an investigation into the blatant financial conflicts of interest surrounding Trump's decision to approve the export of 500,000 advanced AI chips to the UAE in May 2025.

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