President Donald Trump landed in Beijing accompanied by an entourage that included Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Elon Musk on Wednesday after pledging to urge China's Xi Jinping to "open up" to US business at the start of their two-day summit.
Trump embarks on the first visit by a US president to China in nearly a decade eager to snag some deals, maintain a fragile trade truce with the world's second economy, 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.
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."
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 was spotted by White House reporters boarding Air Force One during a refuelling stop in Alaska.
Asked about Trump's post, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said Beijing stands ready to "expand cooperation, manage differences and inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world".
Trump will arrive in the Chinese capital late on Wednesday for two days of meetings with Xi that will include a grand reception at The Great Hall of the People, a tour of UNESCO heritage site Temple of Heaven and a state banquet.
Apart from trade, the talks will cover a host of sensitive subjects from the Iran war to US arms sales to Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China.
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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.
China reiterated on Wednesday its strong opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan, with the status of a $14-billion package awaiting Trump's approval still unclear.
The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.
Bessent holds last-minute talks as Trump arrives weakened
While Trump rubbed shoulders with Huang and Elon Musk aboard Air Force One, Bessent held his latest round of trade negotiations with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at a reception room at South Korea's Incheon airport.
The talks ran about three hours to end just before 4 p.m. (0700 GMT), a US official said. China's official Xinhua news agency described them as "candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges", but officials did not offer any detailed summary.
The two 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, vital in making items from electric cars to weapons.
They are also expected to discuss forums to support mutual trade and investment and dialogue on AI issues, while Washington looks to sell Boeing airplanes, farm goods and energy to China to cut a trade deficit that has long irked Trump, US officials have said.
Beijing, for its part, wants the US to ease curbs on exports of chipmaking equipment and advanced semiconductors.
Trump enters the talks with a weakened hand.
Courts have hemmed in his ability to levy tariffs at will on exports from China and other countries.
The Iran war has also boosted inflation at home and escalated the risk that Trump's Republican Party will lose control of one or both legislative branches in November's midterm elections.
Though the Chinese economy has faltered, Xi does not face comparable economic or political pressure.
"The Trump administration needs this meeting more than China does, as it needs to show to American voters that deals are signed, money is made," said Liu Qian, founder and CEO of Wusawa Advisory, a Beijing-based geopolitical advisory firm.
While Trump has lauded his personal rapport with Xi and respect for China, several Beijing residents told Reuters they viewed his visit with a mixture of hope and suspicion.
"I don't know if he's genuinely sincere," Lou Huilian, a 44-year-old who works in the oil trade said outside a metro station as she headed to work on Wednesday.
"But speaking as a Chinese person, and as someone working in trade, I just hope some good policies can come out of this."
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