Washington, DC

1. Nvidia’s victory
2. AI delays plague Hill
3. Warner Bros. fight
4. Witkoff’s rise
5. Fed meeting eyed
6. Support for 401(k) expansion
7. Dems regroup in Texas

PDB: Habba out

US reports job openings … Trump in Pennsylvania … Honduras seeks arrest of pardoned ex-president

Trump allows Nvidia to sell H200s to China

The Trump administration is allowing the export of powerful Nvidia H200 chips to China, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti scooped, a major win for CEO Jensen Huang and a sign the White House is seeking to moderate its export restrictions on Beijing. The move will allow Nvidia to export the chips in exchange for a 25% surcharge paid to the US government, President Donald Trump confirmed late Monday. It marks an attempt by his administration to find a middle ground between those who oppose exports of any advanced AI chips and those who worry restrictions will hand the market to Chinese competitors; the H200s are already roughly 18 months behind Nvidia’s most advanced offerings. The White House is also seeking to ease trade frictions with Beijing: China balked at an initial compromise allowing Nvidia to export less-powerful H20s and instructed companies to stop purchasing the chips over alleged security concerns.

Trump disses Congress on AI

Trump’s tease of his executive order aimed at banning state AI regulations is a clear message to Congress: If it won’t make policy, then he will. “We’ve got senators for sure who have very thoughtful views on both sides of the issue. I’d rather see Congress sort this out,” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told Semafor. The AI moratorium divides the GOP — that’s why Trump didn’t get it in the defense policy bill — but Trump’s unilateral move could prompt action. “We shouldn’t be doing a moratorium. We should be doing something, though,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. In fact, the whole imbroglio can be traced back to congressional inaction. “The reason why the states want to do it is because Congress is slow in getting something done for the country,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. “We should do it at the congressional level.”

— Burgess Everett

Warner Bros. tussle is a dilemma for Trump

Trump is expected to weigh in more definitively on the fight over Warner Bros. Discovery, after Paramount launched a hostile bid to challenge Netflix’s deal. Whose side will he take? Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s firm is part of Paramount’s bid, and one of the president’s top campaign advisers, Jason Miller, is advising an investor on that side of the deal. But WBD balked at the financing behind Paramount’s offer, led by the Ellison family and fronted by Emirati, Saudi, and Qatari sovereign wealth funds. “Any deal structured to sidestep scrutiny might instead invite it,” Semafor’s Rohan Goswami wrote; some officials have been frustrated by speculation that the Justice Department would favor the conservative Ellisons. Trump also attacked Paramount over a 60 Minutes interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. Expect both sides to push for phone and face time with Trump in the days ahead.

— Shelby Talcott

Why Steve Witkoff’s sway is unshakable

Trump’s economic aides have resembled a team of rivals at times, but his foreign policy advisers are more like planets in orbit — with Steve Witkoff closest to the sun, Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant reports. The real estate developer is an unusual special envoy, with far more experience in corporate boardrooms than in formal diplomacy. But Witkoff has a superpower: connection to Trump. “No one in a foreign ministry or royal palace or presidential administration or prime minister’s office is thinking, ‘Is this guy speaking for the president, or can he get a hold of Trump?’” said former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien. Witkoff has sparked controversy along the way, most recently with his involvement in a draft proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine that has been criticized for favoring Moscow. Witkoff “overestimates [Vladimir] Putin’s willingness to negotiate,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

In Washington, economic power no longer follows party lines. The old frameworks — left vs. right, House vs. Senate, Republican vs. Democrat — no longer fully explain how economic power moves in the Capitol. Today’s influence moves through a wide network, from traditional power brokers to ideological outliers, dealmakers, and policy entrepreneurs. Join us Dec. 10 for one-on-one conversations with leaders including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), as we map the people moving capital, shaping policy, and redrawing the blueprint of economic power.

Dec. 10 | Washington, DC | Request Invitation

Fed eyes third rate cut amid tempest

The Federal Reserve, widely expected to lower interest rates Wednesday for the third time this year, kicks off its two-day meeting today. Gathering policymakers must simultaneously grapple with growing internal divisions over the best path forward; the Trump administration’s ongoing search for the next Fed chair; a looming Supreme Court ruling on the president’s ability to fire independent agency officials; and, of course, the president’s continued campaign for dramatically lower interest rates as he seeks to make life more affordable for Americans. That campaign is sure to feature prominently in Trump’s remarks on inflation today at Pennsylvania’s Mount Airy Resort, despite mounting evidence that it may not be so straightforward: Treasury yields hit multi-month highs Monday in a key sign that bond traders remain worried about rising prices.

— Eleanor Mueller

Voters back alternative assets in 401(k)s

New industry-backed polling suggests voters favor having access to private markets for their 401(k)s, but the Trump administration push still faces an uphill climb in Congress, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Eleanor Mueller report. A new poll from Cygnal and Impact Research on behalf of the private-equity group Council for a Safe and Secure Retirement found that 65% of voters (made up of both Trump and Harris backers) support the ability to access private markets through their retirement plans. Congress is getting briefed on the idea, with Democratic staff on the Senate Banking and HELP Committees hosting private equity, retirement, and labor policy experts on Monday. But lawmakers are skeptical: “You’ve got to be careful, because those underlying assets have higher risk. They have higher reward, but we got to call it what it is,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said.

Cornyn welcomes Crockett’s Senate bid

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, isn’t masking his excitement that Rep. Jasmine Crockett is in the race for Texas’s Democratic Senate nomination and former Rep. Colin Allred is out. “Am I hiding my glee? I’ll try to wipe the smile off my face, I would say it’s a gift,” Cornyn told Semafor’s Burgess Everett of the switcheroo. “Colin, obviously he wasn’t successful before, but he was what I would call closer to a normal Democrat than Jasmine. [She] is something else.” The veteran GOP senator — who must win his own tough primary — is preparing for Crockett to be the nominee over state Rep. James Talarico. But Democrats say not so fast: “This race has a long way to go. Still bullish on Democrats,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a former party campaign chair. “I don’t think Republicans should be popping their champagne bottles yet.”

Blindspot: Afghanistan and mortgages

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: US-provided equipment and weapons left behind in Afghanistan during the 2021 withdrawal have “formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus,” a watchdog report said.

What the Right isn’t reading: President Trump claimed more than one primary residence in the 1990s, ProPublica reported, the same practice that his administration says is mortgage fraud in the case of Fed governor Lisa Cook.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: A group of House members comprising four Republicans and four Democrats is introducing a bill that would extend enhanced health care subsidies for two years.

Playbook: President Trump said in an interview that his handling of the economy was “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” and made clear that the new Fed chair will be expected to cut interest rates next year.

Axios: Trump aides told major donors at a weekend Republican National Committee retreat that the Supreme Court will soon issue rulings on political contribution limits and redistricting that could sway future elections if they go the GOP’s way.

WaPo: “There are very few if any examples of Democrats flipping seats by mobilizing the base, and I think much more common is that you see folks winning by getting some sort of a crossover appeal,” the Texas-based founder of a Democratic group said of the party’s election chances in the state.