Bessent faults Commerce over delayed curbs on Nvidia chip flows to China
What's new: He said Treasury, State, Defense and the U.S. trade office backed blacklisting Megaspeed months ago.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly blamed the Commerce Department for failing to move faster on export controls tied to Nvidia chips reaching China through Singapore-based Megaspeed. In a CNBC interview Friday, Bessent said Treasury, the State Department, the Defense Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative had all supported adding Megaspeed to Commerce's entity list for months, but Commerce controlled the process. The rebuke adds to pressure on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as lawmakers question whether the administration moved aggressively enough to stop advanced AI chips from reaching China. Bessent also said the administration was working to close "leakage" in the export-control system.