Congressional Democrats launched an investigation Thursday into how President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick approved advanced Nvidia AI chip sales to China — and imposed an “unconstitutional” tariff to take a cut of the profits — despite receiving national security warnings.
“There appears to be a profound lack of due diligence in Commerce’s process for approving these Chinese buyers of Nvidia chips,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts), ranking Democrats on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, said in a letter addressed to Lutnick.
Wyden and Neal, the letter’s only signatories, are poised to lead their respective committees when Democrats regain control of both chambers in January. They join a bevy of bipartisan lawmakers calling for more scrutiny into allegations that founder Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang compromised national security by having an affair with a woman who reportedly was Alice Huang, a former tech executive who allegedly acted as a spy for China.
The committee chairs accused Trump and Lutnick of ignoring intelligence warnings about Huang’s compromising relationship last fall, alleging that the administration still approved sale of Nvidia’s advanced H200 AI chips to China in exchange for a share of the export revenue.
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Under the agreement, announced in December, the Taiwanese-made chips were required to pass through the U.S. for testing and were subject to a 25% tariff on entry. Wyden and Neal said Trump approved the chip exports “only after Mr. Huang and Nvidia directed at least $26 million toward President Trump’s personal priorities such as the White House ballroom.”
The lawmakers asked Lutnick to preserve tax records and the department’s communications with Nvidia and Huang.
Huang resigned from the company on Thursday. House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Florida) said Thursday that the former CEO has agreed to sit before the committee before the Thanksgiving break, though the panel is still negotiating scheduling details.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that he expected some oversight follow-up given the “high stakes” of the situation.
“It would make sense because of the nature of the association and the governments and the national security interests that we’re talking about,” he said.
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