White House weighs Lutnick’s ouster amid Nvidia export concerns, sources say

Then-Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang listens to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at the G20 Innovation Ministerial summit, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Sept. 2. | REUTERS

REUTERS

Nov 13, 2026

WASHINGTON – Senior White House officials are discussing whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should be pushed out amid a spy scandal surrounding Nvidia’s now-former CEO Jensen Huang, two people familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

A growing number of lawmakers criticized Lutnick for the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to a key U.S. trade blacklist, and over whether the government was properly overseeing Nvidia’s exports to China.

Criticism of Lutnick’s actions predates Thursday’s resignation of Huang, who said he would step down as CEO of the leading AI chipmaker after reports of an affair with Alice Huang, whom U.S. authorities suspect of spying for Beijing. But the charge that Lutnick has not done enough to restrict AI chip shipments to China has emerged as the fallout from Jensen Huang’s actions grows.

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