Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Chris McGuire was left stunned by the new report that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has not acted on President Donald Trump’s repeated orders to stop AI chips from reaching China through Southeast Asia.
Posting to X, McGuire characterized it as a breakdown inside the administration.
“Stunning report,” wrote McGuire. “At this point it seems like Howard Lutnick and [Undersecretary] Jeff Kessler are just outright defying the President’s orders on export controls. The President apparently ordered Secretary Lutnick to crack down on China’s access to controlled AI chips in Southeast Asia — and reportedly has ordered this three separate times — and they’re just … not doing it.”
“Why is Lutnick refusing to act?” wrote McGuire. “Why is he allowing China to continue to get AI chips via Southeast Asia? At this point, Lutnick isn’t just protecting Nvidia, he’s straight up protecting Chinese companies–reportedly against the wishes of the President and the entire rest of the Cabinet. Is Lutnick personally benefitting from China getting access to AI chips?”
Regardless, he added, “This is a total breakdown inside the administration on a major national security issue. There has to be accountability for this. Congress obviously will investigate, but how is it that the President’s own appointees are just refusing to execute the President’s orders? I’ve never seen anything like this.”
All of this comes following reports that Lutnick was made aware the CEO of Nvidia was romantically involved with a suspected Chinese spy before his agency approved chip sales linked to China.
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