Howard Lutnick stalls Trump’s Nvidia chip curbs on China after Oval Office talks
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik has held back proposed limits on selling Nvidia's AI chips to China following Oval Office discussions with President Trump.
The US Commerce Department, led by Secretary Howard Lutnick, has delayed implementing proposed restrictions on Nvidia's advanced AI chip sales to China. This decision follows Oval Office talks with President Trump and occurs amid growing internal administration disputes over export controls.
The pause comes as Nvidia's market value has plummeted by an estimated $700 billion as of mid-November 2026, reflecting investor anxiety over US-China trade relations and the uncertain future of chip exports to China.
Cabinet Clash Over Singapore Buyer
Lutnick faces significant pushback within the administration over his handling of export controls. Before Trump's May 2026 China trip, Lutnick reportedly received a classified memo regarding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's ties to Alice Huang, a former executive linked to potential Chinese espionage.
The center of the dispute is Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that has purchased over $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips since mid-2024. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Lutnick in a Situation Room meeting on November 5-6, 2026, questioning why Megaspeed had not been placed on the Entity List—the Commerce Department's trade blacklist that severely restricts access to sensitive US technology.
The department has not added a single new name to the Entity List since October 2025, despite multiple applications under review.
Congressional Pressure Mounts
The friction extends beyond the cabinet, with Democratic lawmakers demanding tighter limits on advanced AI chip exports. They have set a December 1, 2026 deadline for Lutnick to provide accountability on the issue, reflecting frustrations that have been building on Capitol Hill.
Several key markers will determine the outcome of this dispute: the December deadline, potential additions to the Entity List, Trump's proposed curbs, and the classified memo about Jensen Huang's connections. For now, US chip-export policy toward China appears more like an internal negotiation than a coherent strategy.
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