Trump approved Nvidia chip curbs three times. Lutnick keeps stalling

President Trump signed off Thursday on a crackdown against companies suspected of funneling Nvidia's advanced AI chips to China — the third time this year he has given the green light, Axios reports. He even phoned tech adviser Elon Musk before agreeing to move. But one cabinet official has repeatedly stood in the way: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to six high-level sources briefed on or present for the discussions.

The flashpoint came Thursday in the Situation Room, where Lutnick sat with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio. Bessent pressed Lutnick on why Commerce has stalled the export controls — especially on Megaspeed, the company at the heart of the spy scandal — and the room backed Bessent. Lutnick seemed to agree, then muttered that he needed to check with the president. One person called the bluff: “Great. Why don't we do it today?”

Around 5pm the group walked to the Oval Office, where Trump got Musk on the phone and sided with Rubio, Bessent, Greer and Hegseth. Lutnick was the lone holdout, warning the controls “will start a trade war with China,” per Axios. “Everyone argued back that China is already doing to us what Lutnick warned would happen,” a source said. Trump's call: “Let's get it done.” Outside the room, Lutnick tried one more delay, offering to develop options — and a source says the decision still hasn't been executed.

Commerce spokesperson Kristen Eichamer denied that Bessent confronted Lutnick and declined immediate comment on the other allegations.

The pattern stretches back months. Trump approved action against suspected Nvidia chip diversions in May, August and on Nov. 5, Axios reports, while Lutnick and Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler resisted pressure from Bessent and others. In May, a highly classified memo flagging Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang — a Megaspeed employee U.S. intelligence suspects of being a Chinese agent — went to the president and other officials. In a later meeting, Bessent, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, Hegseth and White House officials pushed Lutnick and Kessler to act, and a source says “they were refusing.”

The backdrop: Trump's team announced last year it would loosen export controls on Nvidia's H200 chips for China, something the chipmaker lobbied hard for, and Trump agreed to allow those older-but-powerful sales in exchange for a 25% tariff. Jensen Huang has argued that selling less potent chips keeps China dependent on American tech instead of building its own — a case he has made to Trump and Lutnick. Lutnick runs the department at the center of export control policy, but the final call belongs to Trump.