Trump's Commerce chief Lutnick criticized over chip exports after Nvidia CEO resignation

A growing number of lawmakers are criticizing 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 Thursday's 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.

"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 fueling 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.

The 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 $4.8 billion in advanced Nvidia AI ⁠chips since ​June 2024. 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 Thursday 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 Wednesday that Lutnick stalled Trump's crackdown on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia's chips to China.

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. The Republican chair of ⁠the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday 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 Thursday 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 immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting ​by David Shepardson; editing by David Gaffen)