By Laurie Chen and Trevor Hunnicutt and Heejin Kim
Publication Date: 2026-05-13 09:40:00
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures prior boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Tuesday as he departs for a 3-day state visit to China.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump said he would urge China’s Xi Jinping to “open up” to U.S. business on his way to a summit in Beijing on Wednesday, adding Nvidia’s Jensen Huang to a group of CEOs travelling with him when he stopped in Alaska en route.
Trump embarks on the first visit by a U.S. president to China in nearly a decade eager to land some economic wins and prop up public approval ratings bruised by his war with Iran.
As Trump prepared for the pomp-filled occasion, his top trade negotiator Scott Bessent wrapped up talks with Chinese officials in South Korea aimed at maintaining a fragile trade deal between the world’s top two economies struck last year.
Trump plays down differences with Xi over Iran ahead of high-stakes Beijing summit
The CEOs accompanying Trump are drawn mainly from companies seeking to resolve business issues with China, such as Nvidia, which 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,” he said in post on Truth Social, referring to the CEO delegation.
“I will make that my very first request.”
U.S. President Donald Trump…
