President Donald Trump has said he would urge China's Xi Jinping to "open up" to US business on his way to a summit in Beijing, adding Nvidia's Jensen Huang to a group of CEOs travelling with him when he stopped in Alaska en route.
Mr Trump embarks on the first visit by a US 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 Mr 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 Mr 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."
Mr Trump asked Mr 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 Mr 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".
Mr Trump will arrive in the Chinese capital later this evening for two days of meetings with MR 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.
Mr 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 has reiterated its strong opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan, with the status of a $14 billion package awaiting Mr 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.
While Mr Trump rubbed shoulders with Mr Huang and Elon Musk aboard Air Force One, Mr 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 8am Irish time, 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 Mr Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Mr Xi backed away from choking global supplies of rare earths, vital in making items from electric cars to weapons.
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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 Mr Trump, US officials have said.
Beijing, for its part, wants the US to ease curbs on exports of chipmaking equipment and advanced semiconductors.
Mr 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 Mr Trump's Republican Party will lose control of one or both legislative branches in November's midterm elections.
Though the Chinese economy has faltered, Mr 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.
