Scoop: Bessent confronts Lutnick in Situation Room over China inaction
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in August 2025. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over a failure to place Nvidia customer Megaspeed on a list of companies that pose national security concerns, sources familiar told Axios.
Why it matters: The Commerce Department oversees the export of sensitive U.S. technologies and Lutnick's actions — or lack thereof — are increasingly under scrutiny following revelations that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had an affair with Megaspeed employee and suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang.
Driving the news: At a White House Situation Room meeting on Thursday after the midterm elections, Bessent pressed Lutnick on why Megaspeed had not been added to the Commerce Department's entity list, to which Lutnick responded he would "look into it."
- Commerce Undersecretary Jeff Kessler also was repeatedly warned about Megaspeed in deputy meetings.
- But sources told Axios that Lutnick has spent the last year "undoing" efforts by other administration officials to hold Megaspeed — a company accused of illegally diverting U.S. chips to China — accountable because of concerns it would escalate the trade war with China.
Catch up quick: The Commerce Department is increasingly at the center of scrutiny over the broader Trump administration's handling of an intelligence memo overseen by State Department head Marco Rubio.
- Lutnick was among the officials who received the report in May, ahead of a trip to China, Axios first reported.
- On Tuesday, the New York Times reported Commerce Undersecretary Kessler abruptly stopped an investigation into Megaspeed after Nvidia intervened.
- The Financial Times reported the department was delaying efforts to blacklist Megaspeed despite several U.S. government agencies pushing it to do so.
Inside the room: White House and intelligence officials have pressed Lutnick and his top advisers to take action against Megaspeed since the fall of 2025, sources tell Axios. But they refused, so Bessent spoke up Thursday.
- "How come Megaspeed isn't on the entities list?" Bessent asked Lutnick, according to a source briefed on the meeting.
- Lutnick initially stammered, sources said, and then replied: ""I don't know. I'll look into it."
- One source, who has extensive experience concerning the chip controversy, said the reply was "bullshit" because Lutnick had resisted action ever since he was personally handed a memo, drafted by National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that outlined the problems with Megaspeed.
