Lutnick faces AI chip scrutiny as Bessent faults Commerce

Howard Lutnick faces scrutiny over AI chip enforcement after Scott Bessent accused Commerce of failing to blacklist Megaspeed.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Treasury, State and the United States Trade Representative had supported restrictions against the Singapore-based company for months. His criticism puts responsibility for implementing those restrictions at the center of a dispute within President Donald Trump's administration.

Commerce Department spokesperson Kristen Eichamer said Lutnick had accepted a request to testify before lawmakers. The White House separately expressed confidence in the commerce secretary, leaving him with presidential backing as Congress seeks explanations about controls governing Nvidia's advanced processors.

Bessent challenges Commerce over Megaspeed

Bessent's argument concerned implementation rather than a lack of legal powers. Describing Commerce's responsibility for adding Megaspeed to the entity list, he said, “Commerce has the pen,” and maintained that the administration already possessed the necessary authority.

Megaspeed has denied wrongdoing. The dispute concerns suspected breaches of export restrictions, not a violation established in the supplied material; Bessent's accusation that Commerce failed to act does not itself establish that the company broke the rules.

The distinction matters for the congressional inquiry: lawmakers are seeking to examine both suspected access to restricted chips and the government's handling of those suspicions. Whether officials had sufficient evidence to impose restrictions, and how they evaluated it, remains unresolved.

Congress targets Lutnick and Kessler

Senator Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, requested Lutnick's appearance before the Senate Banking Committee and described concerns extending across party lines. Eichamer's announcement establishes the secretary's willingness to appear, but the material provides no date for his testimony.

The committee is also preparing inquiries into decisions by Under Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler, who leads the Bureau of Industry and Security. That bureau sits within Commerce and administers export restrictions covering advanced artificial intelligence processors alongside other controlled products.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, the committee's senior Democrat, accused Lutnick and Kessler of leaving gaps in enforcement and demanded explanations. Her assertion that those gaps could assist China's military is a lawmaker's allegation, not an independently established finding about the destination or use of particular Nvidia chips.

Nvidia oversight enters the inquiry

Nvidia also faces scrutiny over its interactions with export-control officials. A company spokesperson said General Counsel Tim Teter did not know about a personal relationship involving Jensen Huang when Teter contacted Kessler concerning Alice Huang's detention in Singapore in late summer 2025.

That account addresses Teter's knowledge; it does not resolve the broader questions about Commerce's enforcement decisions. Bureau spokespeople have denied wrongdoing, while lawmakers seek to establish what officials knew and how they handled information concerning Megaspeed.

The next concrete step is Lutnick's testimony, with the timing still unspecified. If hearings produce evidence of delayed enforcement, congressional scrutiny could focus on Commerce's decision-making procedures; if officials substantiate their handling of the case, lawmakers would need to distinguish disagreement over policy from a failure to apply existing restrictions.