White House Discusses Lutnick’s Future as Commerce Secretary
Senior White House officials are discussing whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should be pushed out, Reuters reported on Thursday, as the fallout from the spy scandal surrounding Nvidia’s former chief executive Jensen Huang continues to spread through the administration.
Two people familiar with the situation told Reuters that Lutnick’s future was under discussion at the White House. The White House and the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the report was published.
Earlier on Thursday, a White House official said President Donald Trump “maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position.” No decision has been announced, and the discussions reported by Reuters do not amount to a dismissal.
Lawmakers question chip exports to China
A growing number of lawmakers have criticised Lutnick over the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to a key US trade blacklist, and over whether the government has properly overseen Nvidia’s exports to China.
The criticism predates Huang’s resignation, but it has intensified since Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia’s chief executive after reports of an affair with Alice Huang, whom US authorities suspect of spying for Beijing. Nvidia’s statement announcing the resignation did not address Huang’s actions.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said: “Secretary Howard Lutnick and Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler must explain why they have not closed export control loopholes and act today to ensure our advanced technology is not fueling China’s military.”
Warren, who will chair the Senate Banking Committee from January, and Chris Coons, the incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, telling the administration to preserve all documents related to Nvidia’s exports of advanced AI chips to China and related national security risks.
The blacklist has not grown since October 2025
In June, Reuters reported that the Trump administration had held off from adding China’s AI startup DeepSeek, memory chipmaker CXMT and more than 100 other companies flagged as national security risks to the trade blacklist.
The United States has not posted any additions to that list since October 2025, the longest stretch between new postings in more than a decade. Reuters earlier reported that the Commerce Department had held back from adding new Chinese companies for fear of escalating tensions between the US and China.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, wrote to Lutnick on Thursday saying they were investigating the administration’s approval of sales of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to Chinese companies “with concerning links to the Chinese government, military, and sanctioned entities.”
The lawmakers also questioned Trump’s decision to grant Nvidia permission to sell its advanced H200 AI chips to China in December 2025 in exchange for a cut of the export sales through a Commerce Department action, which they called “an unconstitutional export tax.”
Republicans split over Lutnick
The pressure is not coming only from Democrats. The Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, urged Lutnick on Thursday to bar CXMT from the US market and deny it access to American technologies. CXMT did not respond to a request for comment.
Representative Brian Mast, a Florida Republican, said Congress needs to investigate the Commerce Department’s role in how it approves chip exports, while adding that he has confidence in Lutnick. Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told Politico that Lutnick needs to answer questions about approving advanced US chip sales to China.
Axios reported on Wednesday that Lutnick stalled Trump’s crackdown on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia’s chips to China.
A three-decade friendship with Trump
Lutnick, a Wall Street veteran who served as co-chair of Trump’s transition team, has been friends with Trump for three decades and appeared as a guest in 2008 on “The Apprentice,” the reality television show Trump hosted.
That long relationship may be one reason the White House has so far publicly backed him. But with senators from both parties demanding answers about how advanced American chips reached China, and with the Nvidia scandal still unfolding, the discussions reported by Reuters suggest his position is under serious scrutiny for the first time since he took office.
For now, Lutnick remains Commerce Secretary, and the White House has given no indication of when, or whether, a decision will be made.
