Under pressure, Lutnick joins Trump in China
As Nvidia fallout deepens, Commerce Secretary faces mounting pressure over his role in slowing China chip curbs. Howard Lutnick is expected to travel on Air Force One with the president to China this week as the commerce secretary fights to regain his footing after clashing with Trump officials over Nvidia and China chip controls, according to people familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in China on Wednesday to meet with China’s leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit. Lutnick has become the target of Washington finger-pointing for slow-walking Commerce Department restrictions on certain AI chip exports to China, as well as his close relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who resigned last week after admitting to an extramarital affair with an Nvidia customer suspected of being a Chinese spy, and media reports of two affairs with subordinates. The woman, Alice Huang, was an executive at Megaspeed, which the US is investigating for improper chip smuggling into China. Republicans are accusing Lutnick of defying Trump — and warning his job could be on the line — after reports emerged that
As Nvidia fallout deepens, Commerce Secretary faces mounting pressure over his role in slowing China chip curbs. Howard Lutnick is expected to travel on Air Force One with the president to China this week as the commerce secretary fights to regain his footing after clashing with Trump officials over Nvidia and China chip controls, according to people familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in China on Wednesday to meet with China’s leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Lutnick has become the target of Washington finger-pointing for slow-walking Commerce Department restrictions on certain AI chip exports to China, as well as his close relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who resigned last week after admitting to an extramarital affair with an Nvidia customer suspected of being a Chinese spy, and media reports of two affairs with subordinates. The woman, Alice Huang, was an executive at Megaspeed, which the US is investigating for improper chip smuggling into China.
Republicans are accusing Lutnick of defying Trump — and warning his job could be on the line — after reports emerged that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other officials had pushed the commerce secretary to place the Nvidia customer, Megaspeed, on a blacklist of companies that pose national security concerns. Treasury “has been pushing for this for months” but Commerce “has the pen,” Bessent told CNBC last week. They have accused Lutnick of allowing the chipmaker to indirectly sell more advanced chips to China than previously known or allowed under US export control laws, through loopholes he has so far declined to close.
He’s also been criticized for giving Nvidia unfettered access to rule-making that would impact the entire industry. The White House has said it “maintains complete confidence in the secretary.” Lutnick had been expected to attend Semafor’s Silicon Valley & The World convening this week alongside OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Amazon’s Andy Jassy, and hundreds of other CEOs, but will instead be with the president. And while plans could still change, Lutnick’s inclusion in the trip signals that Trump wants to keep Lutnick around long enough to at least accompany the president to China for his visit with Xi.
“This guy has nine lives,” a person close to the White House previously told Semafor. “How many does he have left?” Shelby Talcott and Eleanor Mueller contributed reporting.