What Reuters Reported
Senior White House officials are discussing whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should be pushed out in the wake of the spy scandal surrounding Nvidia’s now former chief executive Jensen Huang, Reuters reported on Thursday, November 12, 2026. Two people familiar with the situation told Reuters the discussions are under way, though no decision has been reported.
A growing number of lawmakers have criticized Lutnick over the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to a key US trade blacklist, and over whether the government was properly overseeing Nvidia’s exports to China. The charge that Lutnick has not done enough to restrict AI chip shipments to China has bubbled up as the fallout from Huang’s actions grows, Reuters reported.
The Criticism Behind the Discussions
The criticism of Lutnick predates Huang’s resignation on Thursday. Huang announced he would step down as chief executive of the leading AI chipmaker after revelations of an affair with Alice Huang, whom US authorities suspect of spying for Beijing. The scandal has put the Commerce Department’s export-control record under intense scrutiny, because the department oversees the rules that govern sales of advanced Nvidia chips to China.
Earlier this week, Axios reported that Lutnick stalled President Donald Trump’s crackdown on the diversion of Nvidia chips to China, a report GPTOnline covered on November 11. Lawmakers have also pressed the administration over why dozens of Chinese companies have not been added to the Entity List, the trade blacklist that bars US firms from selling them sensitive technology without a license.
A Scandal That Keeps Widening
The questions over Lutnick’s future are the latest turn in a scandal that has widened almost daily since Huang’s exit. Semafor reported on Thursday that the Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into Nvidia, one of several federal inquiries circling the company, alongside criminal probes focused on the data center operator Megaspeed and the server maker Supermicro over suspected diversion of export-restricted Nvidia chips to China. GPTOnline reported the DOJ probe earlier on Thursday.
Huang has agreed to testify before Congress, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast said, with testimony expected before Thanksgiving and likely behind closed doors. Colette Kress, Nvidia’s longtime chief financial officer, has taken over as interim chief executive and is due to address employees for the first time in the role on November 18.
Lutnick, a former Wall Street chief executive, became the 41st Secretary of Commerce in February 2025. His department controls the export licenses for sensitive technology, including the advanced semiconductors at the center of the Nvidia affair.
The White House Response
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lutnick’s future, Reuters reported. A White House official told Reuters that President Donald Trump “maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position.” That public backing leaves Lutnick in place for now, even as senior officials discuss his removal behind the scenes.
The split between the private discussions and the public statement is familiar in this administration: officials have often kept public confidence in a cabinet member while weighing a change. Whether the discussions lead to an exit will depend on how the Nvidia fallout develops, and on whether lawmakers keep pressing the export-control question.
What Happens Next
Several threads will decide Lutnick’s fate in the coming days. Huang’s congressional testimony, expected before Thanksgiving, could add new detail about what the Commerce Department knew and when. The Justice Department’s inquiries into Nvidia, Megaspeed and Supermicro are still in their early stages. And Congress is likely to keep pressing for Chinese companies to be added to the Entity List, a step Lutnick has so far resisted.
For the AI industry, the stakes go beyond one cabinet post. The Commerce Department writes the rules that decide which advanced chips can be sold where, and a change at the top could shift how aggressively those rules are enforced. Any move on Lutnick would also be the most senior political casualty yet of a scandal that has already cost Nvidia its chief executive and sent its shares down sharply.
