Nvidia CEO joins Trump's mission to 'open up' China

U.S. President Donald Trump picked up Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Alaska en route to a high-stakes Beijing summit with China's Xi Jinping, while his top trade negotiator Scott Bessent began preparatory talks with Chinese officials in South Korea.



With his public approval ratings bruised by the Iran war, Trump embarks on his first visit to China in nearly a decade aiming to strike deals on farm goods and airplanes and maintain a fragile trade war truce between the world's top two economies.



The CEOs accompanying Trump are drawn mainly from companies seeking to resolve business issues with China, such as Nvidia, which U.S. officials say has struggled to get regulatory permission to sell its powerful H200 artificial intelligence chips there.



"I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to 'open up' China so that these brilliant people can work their magic," Trump said in post on Truth Social, referring to the delegation which he confirmed included Huang.



"I will make that my very first request."



Trump asked Huang at the last minute to join the trip, said a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, and he had not figured on an initial list of travelling executives provided by the White House this week.