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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that Treasury and other parts of the Trump administration have supported restrictions on Megaspeed for months. The company sits at the center of former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s spy and sex scandal.

Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bessent said the authority to act rests with the Commerce Department. Commerce is in charge, he said, “and you will have to ask them about their internal processes,” placing the focus squarely on that department’s decision making.

The comments came after an Axios report about a meeting in the White House Situation Room last week. According to Axios, Bessent asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick why he had resisted export controls, particularly controls involving Megaspeed.

Axios also reported that Lutnick has “repeatedly stood in the way” of a crackdown on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China. The claim sharpened the appearance of internal disagreement over how the administration should enforce its export limits.

Commerce Department spokeswoman Kristen Eichamer rejected the reported Situation Room exchange in comments to CNBC on Wednesday. She said Bessent and Lutnick had “no such conversation” there, directly disputing the Axios account of the exchange.

Asked Friday about the episode, Bessent declined to describe any discussion there. “We don’t repeat conversations in the Situation Room,” he said, leaving Eichamer’s denial and the Axios report at odds.

Bessent did, however, describe support across several administration offices for taking action against Megaspeed. He said the departments of Treasury, Defense and State and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative all “were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months.”

That timeline was central to Bessent’s answer. The push from Treasury and the other named offices had lasted for months, while Commerce retained control of its own process.

When CNBC asked whether potential delays in export controls frustrated him, Bessent answered directly. “I am frustrated when President Trump made it very clear that China should not receive any Nvidia chips above H100s.”

Bessent then tied his frustration to chips reaching China despite Trump’s position. “And so any leakage is very frustrating” because it “hurts our great companies in the AI race [and] gives the Chinese an advantage,” he said.

The dispute comes alongside the scandal surrounding Huang, who had been seen as one of Trump’s closest corporate allies. He resigned as Nvidia CEO on Thursday morning under a cloud of scandal.

Megaspeed is the company at the center of the spy and sex scandal involving Huang. Before resigning, Huang had pressed the U.S. government to loosen restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips to China.

His effort concerned the same category of exports now at issue in Bessent’s comments. Bessent focused specifically on Trump’s position that China should not receive Nvidia chips above H100s.

Trump took a separate step in December, saying Nvidia could sell its powerful H200 chips to approved Chinese customers. The arrangement required the United States to receive a percentage of the sales, according to the report.

Bessent’s comments left the Situation Room episode disputed. Axios reported the question to Lutnick, Eichamer said no such conversation occurred, and Bessent said he would not repeat Situation Room conversations.

On the policy itself, Bessent was unambiguous about Treasury’s stance and his frustration over potential leakage. Yet he also emphasized that Commerce is the department in charge, directing questions about its internal procedures back to Commerce.

On Megaspeed, Bessent said the administration offices had favored entity list action for months. On advanced chips more broadly, he framed any leakage to China as harmful to U.S. companies competing in the AI race.

DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.