President Donald Trump said he would urge China’s Xi Jinping to “open up” to U.S. business during his trip to a summit in Beijing on Wednesday. He also added Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to a group of executives travelling with him, following a stop in Alaska en route.
As Trump prepared for the pomp-filled occasion, his top trade negotiator Scott Bessent held talks with Chinese officials in South Korea aimed at maintaining a fragile trade deal between the world's top two economies struck last year.
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 (AI) 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.
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.
Huang was spotted boarding Air Force One during a refuelling halt in Alaska, with Trump due to arrive in Beijing late on Wednesday ahead of meetings with Xi that will include a banquet and a tour of UNESCO heritage site Temple of Heaven.
Apart from trade, the talks will cover a host of sensitive subjects from the Iran war to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China.
Trump is widely expected to encourage China to convince Tehran to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict, though he has said he did not think he would need its help.
As Trump rubbed shoulders with Huang and Elon Musk aboard Air Force One, Bessent embarked on his latest round of trade negotiations with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at a reception room at South Korea's Incheon airport.
Both sides are eager to maintain a truce struck last October in which Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of rare earths.
They are also expected to agree to forums to support mutual trade and investment, while Washington is eager to sell Boeing airplanes, American agriculture and energy to China to reduce a trade deficit that has irked Trump, U.S. officials have said.
Beijing wants the U.S. to ease curbs on exports of chipmaking equipment and advanced semiconductors.
But Trump enters the talks with a significantly weakened hand say analysts. Courts have hemmed in his ability to levy tariffs on Chinese and other international exports at will.
Trump has vowed to build back those tariffs using remaining legal authorities.
Though the Chinese economy has faltered, Xi does not face comparable economic or political pressure.
"Given last year's trade war, keeping the status quo, rather than escalating, is already good news," said Liu Qian, founder and CEO of Wusawa Advisory, a geopolitical and business advisory firm, based in Beijing.
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President Donald Trump said he would urge China’s Xi Jinping to “open up” to U.S. business during his trip to a summit in Beijing...
U.S. President Donald Trump said he does not think he will need China's help to end the war with Iran as he left for a high-stakes summit in Beijing on Tuesday, as hopes for a lasting peace deal dwindled and Tehran tightened its grip over the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Americans’ financial struggles are not a factor in his decision-making as he seeks to negotiate an end to the Iran war, saying that preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is his top priority.
Senior economic officials from China and the U.S. are holding two days of trade talks in Seoul this week ahead of a summit in Beijing, where Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are set to meet face to face for the first time this year.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 12th of May, covering the latest developments you need to know.
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Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku has been elected the 142nd head of the Georgian Orthodox Church at a meeting of clergy in Tbilisi following the death of longtime Patriarch Ilia II.
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Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 13th of May, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Senior officials from China and Uzbekistan met in Beijing this week for talks on trade, infrastructure and bilateral cooperation, underscoring a relationship that has continued to deepen steadily in recent years.
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