Trump’s commerce chief Lutnick criticised over chip exports after Nvidia CEO resignation

WASHINGTON - A growing number of lawmakers are criticising Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to a key US trade blacklist, and over whether the government was properly overseeing Nvidia’s exports to China.Criticism of Lutnick’s actions predates the Nov 12 resignation of Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, who announced he would step down as CEO of the leading AI chipmaker after revelations of an affair with Alice Huang, who US authorities suspect of spying for Beijing.But the charge that Lutnick has not done enough to restrict AI chip shipments to China has bubbled up as the fallout of Huang’s actions grows.In June, Reuters reported that the Trump administration ​had held ⁠off from adding China’s AI startup DeepSeek, memory chipmaker CXMT and more than 100 other companies flagged as national security risks to a trade blacklist.The US ⁠has not ​posted any additions to that list ​since October 2025, the longest stretch between new postings in more than a decade. Reuters earlier reported that the US Commerce Department has not added new Chinese companies to that list for fear of escalating tensions between the US and China.“Secretary Howard Lutnick and Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler must explain why they have not closed export control loopholes and act today to ensure our advanced technology is not fuelling China’s military,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said.Warren, who will chair the Senate Banking Committee starting in January, and incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Chris Coons wrote to Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, telling the administration to preserve all documents related to Nvidia’s exports of advanced AI chips to China and related national security risks.Nvidia sales questionedThe senators cited reports of Jensen Huang’s personal relationship with Alice Huang, an executive of Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that has purchased more than US$4.8 billion (S$6 billion) in advanced Nvidia AI chips since June 2024.Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, respectively, wrote to Lutnick on Nov 12, saying they were investigating the administration’s approval of sales of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to Chinese companies “with concerning links to the Chinese government, military, and sanctioned entities.”The lawmakers also questioned the decision by Trump to grant Nvidia permission to sell its advanced H200 AI chips to China in December 2025 in exchange for a cut of the export sales through a Commerce Department action which they called “an unconstitutional export tax.”Nvidia’s Huang supported more exports to China, despite repeated calls from China hawks in both parties to crack down on Beijing’s access to the technology.A White House official said President Donald Trump “maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position.”The Commerce Department did not immediately comment.Nvidia’s statement on Nov 12 announcing Jensen Huang’s resignation did not address his actions.Representative Brian Mast, a Florida Republican, said Congress needs to investigate the Commerce Department’s role in how it approves chip exports, adding that he has confidence in Lutnick.Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told Politico that Lutnick needs to answer questions about approving advanced US chip sales to China.Lutnick, a Wall Street veteran who served as co-chair of Trump’s transition team, has been friends with Trump for three decades, and was even a guest on The Apprentice, the reality TV show hosted by Trump, in 2008.Axios reported on Nov 11 that Lutnick ​stalled Trump’s crackdown on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia’s chips to China.The Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Nov 12 urged Lutnick to bar CXMT from the US market and deny it access to American technologies.Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, said in a letter on Nov 12 that CXMT “poses a growing risk to our economic prosperity and military superiority. The US must take action to prevent CXMT from gaining a stronger foothold in the global market.”CXMT did not respond to a request for comment. REUTERS