Lutnick stalled Trump crackdown on diversion of Nvidia chips to China, Axios reports

Summary

• U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has stalled President Donald Trump's third crackdown this year on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia chips to China.
• Trump consulted billionaire Elon Musk before authorizing the crackdown last Thursday, but Lutnick repeatedly obstructed the implementation.
• During a Situation Room meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Lutnick about his department's resistance to export controls.
• Lutnick agreed to address the issue but stated he needed to check with Trump before proceeding.
• U.S. lawmakers are calling for stricter chip export controls following disclosures regarding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with a Chinese businesswoman.
• Nvidia's board launched an investigation after intelligence officials linked Huang's associate to espionage for Beijing.
• The Trump administration previously held off from adding over 100 companies, including DeepSeek & CXMT, to the trade blacklist in June.
• No new entities were added to the U.S. Entity List since October 2025, marking the longest gap in over a decade.