President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday with a high-profile business delegation that included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, ahead of a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The visit comes after Trump pledged to urge Xi to “open up” China to U.S. businesses, marking the first trip by a sitting U.S. president to China in nearly a decade. The administration is seeking to secure economic agreements, maintain a fragile trade truce between the world’s two largest economies, and bolster domestic political support amid recent geopolitical tensions.
The accompanying CEOs largely represent companies aiming to resolve ongoing regulatory and trade issues with China. Nvidia, for instance, has faced challenges in obtaining approval to sell its advanced H200 artificial intelligence chips in the Chinese market.
According to a source familiar with the matter, Huang was invited to join the delegation at the last minute by Trump. He was later seen boarding Air Force One during a refuelling stop in Alaska en route to Beijing.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he would ask President Xi, whom he described as a leader of “extraordinary distinction,” to open China’s market so U.S. companies could expand their operations.
“I will make that my very first request,” he wrote.
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Beijing is prepared to “expand cooperation, manage differences, and inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world.”
