Bessent: Treasury has wanted Megaspeed restrictions for months, but Commerce is in charge

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Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box on Nov. 13th, 2026.CNBC

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday said his department and others in the Trump administration have long supported slapping restrictions on Megaspeed, the company at the center of former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's spy-sex scandal.

But the Commerce Department is in charge, "and you will have to have to ask them about their internal processes," Bessent told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

The Cabinet secretary's comments hinting at disunity within the administration followed an Axios report that Bessent, in the White House Situation Room last week, had asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick why he has resisted implementing export controls, especially on Megaspeed.

Lutnick has "repeatedly stood in the way" of cracking down on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia's advanced AI chips to China, Axios reported.

Commerce Department spokeswoman Kristen Eichamer on Wednesday told CNBC that Bessent and Lutnick had "no such conversation" in the Situation Room.

Asked on CNBC about the reported incident, Bessent said, "We don't repeat conversations in the Situation Room."

But he said that 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."

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