Musk, Apple’s Cook and Boeing CEO to join Trump’s China visit: Nvidia CEO not invited

US President Donald Trump will travel to China this week with a high-profile delegation of American business leaders, including Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Kelly Ortberg, as Washington and Beijing prepare for talks focused on trade, aviation and investment deals, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a White House official.

However, Jensen Huang, one of the most prominent executives in the global artificial intelligence industry, will not be part of the delegation, the report said.

According to the report, the US business group travelling with Trump also includes GE's Larry Culp, Meta’s Dina Powell, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron Technology, Michael Miebach of Mastercard, Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm and Visa’s Ryan McInerney.

Others attending include Cargill’s Brian Sikes, Jim Anderson of Coherent and Jacob Thaysen of Illumina, the report said.

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Cisco’s Chuck Robbins had been invited by the White House but will not attend because the company is scheduled to release earnings this week, Reuters reported, citing a company spokesperson.

The summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to focus on two key areas — expanding trade and investment cooperation, and extending a fragile truce over rare earth mineral exports.

According to Reuters, the United States and China are expected to announce new forums aimed at facilitating bilateral trade and investment. Beijing is also expected to unveil major purchases involving Boeing aircraft, US agricultural goods and energy products.

The rare earth issue is also expected to dominate discussions. The two countries are considering extending an agreement that currently allows rare earth minerals to continue flowing from China to the United States amid broader trade tensions.

Boeing could emerge as one of the biggest winners from the summit. Ortberg had told Reuters in April that the company was counting on the Trump administration to help secure a long-awaited Chinese aircraft order.

Industry sources told Reuters that discussions have centred on a potential deal involving around 500 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft along with dozens of widebody jets powered by GE engines. If finalised, it would be China’s first major Boeing order since 2017 and could become one of the largest aircraft deals in aviation history.

The absence of Nvidia’s Huang is notable because of Trump’s increasingly close ties with the chipmaker. Trump had approved exports of Nvidia H200 AI chips to China, although Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last month that Chinese companies were still facing regulatory hurdles in obtaining approval from Beijing to purchase them.

According to Reuters, Huang was not invited because the White House wanted the current trip to focus more on agriculture and commercial aviation rather than artificial intelligence and semiconductors.