Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent points finger at Howard Lutnick, Commerce Department over Nvidia chip scandal

Source: New York Post

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed the Commerce Department — and by extension, his cabinet colleague Howard Lutnick — for the Trump administration not acting sooner against a Nvidia customer accused of illegally diverting sensitive AI chips to China. Bessent told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Friday morning that four executive departments favored putting Singapore-based Megaspeed on a list of companies that posed national security concerns, but faced inaction by Lutnick’s agency. “Treasury, War, [The Office of the US Trade Representative], and State were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months, but Commerce has the pen,” Bessent said.