Jensen Huang gone: Pressure builds on Trump, US commerce secretary in firing line | Gravitas

The scandal over Jensen Huang’s affair with Alice Huang, suspected to be a Chinese spy, continues to reverberate globally. His resignation from Nvidia is not the end of the story. Rather, it has now put the spotlight on the Trump administration itself. A key question arises: when did the US president come to know about Huang’s links to an alleged Chinese spy? According to The New York Times, US intelligence officials told Trump about this as early as October 2025. Yet, he reportedly chose not to take any action. In fact, two months later, he approved the sale of H200, Nvidia’s second-most powerful chip, to China.

In May this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly warned US officials about this relationship. However, in the very same month, Trump invited the former Nvidia CEO to join him on a state visit to Beijing. This is not all. According to reports, Trump called Huang on Tuesday and urged him to keep fighting for his job. Remember, the US president has repeatedly backed him publicly and even described him as a legend.

But why is Trump taking such a line? According to reports, he does not believe that Huang’s affair poses a threat to the country. He also reportedly viewed Nvidia’s fortunes as bound up with those of the US economy and the stock market.

However, the immediate person in the firing line is US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Just a few hours ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed the Commerce Department for failing to blacklist Megaspeed, the firm which has drawn scrutiny for allegedly steering Nvidia chips towards China. According to him, several US government departments had pushed for adding Megaspeed to the US trade blacklist for months. However, the Commerce Department allegedly kept delaying this.

According to Reuters, senior White House officials are discussing whether he should be sacked. He has faced flak for not doing enough to restrict AI chip shipments to China. Lutnick has now been asked by a top Democratic lawmaker to preserve all documents related to Nvidia’s exports of advanced AI chips to China. He may also have to testify before the US Congress.

In another development, Singapore, which impounded Alice Huang’s passport last year, claimed to have received limited help from the US in its probe into AI chip deals. She was investigated for buying servers that were exported via Singapore to Malaysia without entering the Singapore market. During her questioning, she reportedly downplayed her role in Megaspeed.

While the probe in America is ongoing, the US Department of Justice has yet to conclude whether Alice Huang is a Chinese spy. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche also dismissed concerns over the Commerce Department’s role.

Amid this, Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the US House of Representatives, made it clear that the espionage allegations would be probed by Democrats in January. He also backed Huang’s decision to step down as the Nvidia CEO. According to reports, he has agreed to appear before the US Congress for questioning. For its part, China again dismissed any involvement in espionage. Ahead of the APEC summit, it also warned the U.S. against putting additional export controls on semiconductors.

Meanwhile, Alice Huang faces growing scrutiny. A new report has now alleged that a Chinese company founded by her obtained Nvidia’s H800 chips via a Singapore-based firm. This comes even as the U.S. banned the export of these chips to China in 2023.