November 13, 2026, (Inside AI) — Senior White House officials are weighing whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should keep his Cabinet post, two people familiar with the deliberations said, as a spy scandal tied to Nvidia and its former chief executive Jensen Huang widens into a test of Washington's export controls.
Lutnick has been summoned to appear before the Senate Banking Committee in December. Huang faces a parallel summons over his alleged affair with Alice Huang, a suspected Chinese spy and founder of Singapore-based Megaspeed, a company that has bought more than $4.8 billion of advanced Nvidia AI chips since June 2024.
The pressure on Lutnick is not confined to the Huang affair. Lawmakers in growing numbers argue the Commerce Department has gone soft on Beijing at the exact moment it controls the flow of the most sensitive American technology. The department has not added a single Chinese company to its trade blacklist since October 2025, the longest gap between new postings in more than a decade.
In June, the administration declined to add Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, memory chipmaker CXMT, and more than 100 other firms flagged as national security risks to that list, according to sources. Officials described the omission as an effort to avoid escalating tensions with China.
Top Democratic lawmakers have written to Lutnick challenging the administration's approval of Nvidia AI chip sales to Chinese companies with "concerning links to the Chinese government, military, and sanctioned entities." They also questioned President Donald Trump's decision to let Nvidia sell its advanced H200 chips to China in December 2025 in exchange for a cut of export revenue routed through a Commerce Department action. The lawmakers called the arrangement "an unconstitutional export tax."
The political arithmetic here is unusual. Export control policy has traditionally been fought over in committee rooms and trade journals. This fight has landed in the Cabinet, because the same department that writes the blacklist also signs off on the licenses that generate the revenue. That dual role gives every stalled listing and every approved shipment a political price tag. It also means the White House cannot separate its China strategy from the personal conduct of the executives whose companies it regulates. The Commerce Department has become the pressure point where trade policy, campaign politics, and a spy investigation collide.
Warren Demands Answers on Loopholes
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has pressed the department directly.
"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." — Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator, Massachusetts
On Wednesday, Axios reported that Lutnick stalled Trump's crackdown on firms suspected of diverting Nvidia chips to China. The report adds a new dimension to the Senate inquiry, suggesting the delay came from inside the department rather than from a lack of intelligence.
Huang, for his part, has publicly supported more exports to China, putting him at odds with a growing bipartisan bloc on Capitol Hill. His alleged relationship with Alice Huang, first reported in October, has become the lens through which lawmakers are now reading the export file.
Not every Republican is calling for Lutnick's head. Representative Brian Mast of Florida said Congress needs to examine how the Commerce Department approves chip exports, while expressing confidence in the secretary.
Senator John Kennedy, asked on CNN whether Lutnick should lose his job, was blunt.
"I don't know yet." — John Kennedy, U.S. Senator, Louisiana
Kennedy urged Lutnick to answer the queries publicly and quickly, and confirmed the secretary will be summoned to appear before Congress.
"This is as serious as an aneurism." — John Kennedy, U.S. Senator, Louisiana
The White House and the Commerce Department did not respond to questions about the deliberations. An official said earlier that Trump "maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position."
The December hearing will force Lutnick to reconcile two records: a blacklist that has sat untouched for over a year, and a licensing regime that approved H200 sales to China with a revenue-sharing condition attached. Senators will likely ask which firms were cleared, who signed off, and whether Megaspeed's purchases passed through the same channel.
For Nvidia, the stakes extend beyond one Cabinet official. The company's China business now depends on a policy environment that shifts with every headline about its former CEO. Buyers in Beijing have already accelerated domestic alternatives, and any further restriction would hand more ground to Huawei's Ascend line.
Huang's testimony, expected alongside Lutnick's, will be the first time he addresses the affair and the Megaspeed purchases under oath. Whether the White House moves on Lutnick before then may depend on how much of the December hearing it wants to control.
Sofia spent years studying how machines parse human language before pivoting to cover the systems now rewriting it. She reads technical papers the way others read news and looking for what the numbers are actually saying beneath the headlines.
