Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent challenged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over delays in blocking Nvidia chips from China, Axios reports — though the Trump administration disputes this.
Lutnick, per the report, has been the main bottleneck holding up a major national security policy intended to stop China from stealing U.S. AI technology, standing alone against the rest of the administration.
Axios, which spoke to six senior sources, says the exchange took place Nov. 5 in the Situation Room. Also present were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Bessent reportedly asked why Lutnick’s department had not carried out export controls, especially against Megaspeed, a firm tied to suspected chip smuggling. Everyone else in the room backed Bessent.
Lutnick gave the impression he agreed, Axios reports, but was heard saying quietly, “I need to check with the president.” That set off alarms, the sources said. Commerce had looked ready to act before, and each time the controls never came. One official said Lutnick was running out the clock.
To head that off, a person in the meeting proposed going to the president immediately. Late that afternoon, they did. In the Oval Office, President Donald Trump got on the phone with tech tycoon Elon Musk, who backed the restrictions. Lutnick feared the move would provoke a trade fight with Beijing. The rest replied that China was behaving that way already. Trump told them to go ahead.
Once the meeting broke up, Lutnick floated coming back later with alternatives, according to Axios. The others answered that the matter was settled. A source said the controls have still not taken effect.
By Axios’s count, Lutnick has intervened in such actions signed off by Trump at least three times this year.
Commerce spokesperson Kristen Eichamer disputed that Bessent confronted Lutnick, but had no immediate comment on the rest of the account.
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