The dispute over Nvidia chip exports has been simmering for months. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said his department, along with State, Defense and the U.S. Trade Representative, supported adding Megaspeed to the export-control list, while Commerce was responsible for acting on the proposal.¹

The stakes grew as the administration set different limits on sales to China. In December, President Trump said Nvidia could sell H200 chips to approved Chinese customers, with the U.S. receiving a share of the proceeds. Bessent has argued that China should not receive Nvidia chips more powerful than H100s, and said any diversion undermines U.S. companies and gives China an advantage.²

Last week, according to an Axios report cited by CNBC, Bessent challenged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the White House Situation Room over resistance to export controls. Commerce spokeswoman Kristen Eichamer denied that the two had such a conversation. On Friday, Bessent declined to discuss the reported exchange, saying, “We don’t repeat conversations in the Situation Room.”²

But he made his frustration plain, saying, “I am frustrated” by possible delays and that “there is a lot of leakage in the system.”² Bessent also shifted attention from the personal scandal surrounding former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to the company’s oversight of its customers. He questioned whether Nvidia had made a robust effort to prevent chips from reaching China through pass-through companies, and said people at the company should be held accountable if they failed to do so.²

Bessent blames Lutnick's Commerce Department for not restricting Nvidia chips to China — Bessent said several agencies backed adding Megaspeed to the export-control list, while Commerce was in charge.

Bessent points to Lutnick’s Commerce as he slams Nvidia chip ‘leakage’ to China — Bessent criticized delays and questioned Nvidia’s safeguards against diversion to China.