US President Donald Trump reportedly called Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the 11th hour on Tuesday, May 12, to join his China delegation, according to a report by Semafor. The publication cited an unnamed source who said that the president “called Jensen this morning after seeing reports that he wasn’t joining the trip. Told him he wanted him to come. Jensen flew to Alaska to meet AF1.”
This development comes after previous concerns that the chipmaker’s presence could be a political liability. During his China visit, Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 14 and 15. He is joined by other leaders and CEOs, including Elon Musk and outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, among others.
According to a Reuters report earlier this week, the White House is focusing this trip primarily on agriculture and commercial aviation rather than high-end semiconductors. While the administration recently cleared the way for Nvidia to export its H200 AI chips to China, the deals have reportedly stalled because Chinese companies are struggling to get the necessary permissions from their own government.
Trump Confirms Report of Jensen Huang Joining His China Delegation
Confirming the same in a Truth Social post, President Trump wrote: “Jensen is currently on Air Force One”, adding “It is an Honor to have Jensen, Elon, Tim Apple, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzmann, Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Jane Fraser (Citi), Larry Culp (GE Aerospace), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), and many others journeying to the Great Country of China where I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to “open up” China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level! In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request. I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries!”
