Trump just touched down in Beijing with Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and Larry Fink. Jensen Huang barely made the flight.

The guest list is a veritable who's who of the American corporate brass. The executives traveled to the fiefdom of Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Larry Fink, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and dozens more. Jensen Huang almost did not.

A noticeable omission from the administration's initial delegation list was Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, who has attended every major Trump state visit in 2017, including those to Saudi Arabia and the U.K. As the coverage spread, Trump apparently got on the phone and called Huang himself. Shortly after, the Nvidia CEO jetted to Alaska and got on Air Force One mid-flight. A spokesperson said Huang was in attendance "at the invitation of President Trump to show support for America and the administration's agenda."

That last-minute development says more about what this summit really is than any official agenda item.

What is actually on the table

Time's official itinerary has Trump sitting down with Xi Thursday and Friday in Beijing to discuss trade, Taiwan, AI, and the Iran war. His team will organize a state banquet for Xi. From one inside this realm, two new structures have been floated from the White House to come out of the summit: a Board of Trade for non-sensitive goods and, as an economic spasium, a Board of Investment. The Americans hope for purchase promises on aircraft from Boeing and soybeans and agricultural items.

Those, however, will be the tougher conversations in person.

The Iran war that you mentioned did not hit China's economy. The Middle East accounts for around half of China's crude oil imports, and the closing Strait of Hormuz has affected energy supply chains for Beijing.

That gives Trump real leverage. He wants China to put pressure on Iran to return for negotiations and he wants its support in the reopening of the strait. Beijing desires stability with economic predictability and to do so without losing face by appearing subservient to Washington.

Iran's foreign minister was in Beijing only last week. A few days after Trump leaves, Putin is scheduled to visit. Xi is welcoming the most critically important run of international leaders in a single 14-day period that Beijing has played host to for years, and he is doing it from a place of actual power. Iranian yuan toll system entered through the strait managed by IRGC collected (in Bitcoin and $USDT), turning China into the financial winner of the largest energy supply shock on Earth. Even if Xi wanted to, it would not be easy to walk away from that leverage.

Trump threatened with 50% tariffs on the Chinese after reading reports that China was getting ready to send weapons to Iran in April. Xi reportedly told him bluntly that China was not doing that, and he backed off. One of the main questions on this trip, whether that assurance is to be taken at face value.

The must-see chip angle

The reason Jensen Huang's on stage is the most telling sign of what America Inc. wants out of this summit.

For years, Nvidia's high-end chips have faced restrictions on sales to China. US Exports H200 to China approved by Trump late in 2025, but it still have not reached the clearing ports of entry for Nvidia's China-approved versions. Huang has called the China market a $50 billion opportunity. For months, he has been arguing in Washington that restricting chip sales does not prevent China's AI development; it merely takes American companies out of the picture and fills the breach with Chinese alternatives like Huawei's Ascend chips.

It is one thing, not symbolic at all, to have Huang on Air Force One next to the president as they approach a summit concerning AI and semiconductor policy. This is lobbying at the top level of all possible levels.

And Tim Cook matters for the same reasons. Almost all of Apple's manufacturing is done in China. Cook has worked for years building relationships with Chinese officials as one of the quieter voices in Washington calling to de-escalate trade tensions. Adding him to the team sends the unmistakable signal that business community message to the White House remains unchanged: A trade war with China is reason American businesses face on ways too complicated to communicate to voters who are now charged $1,200 for a phone.

What to watch this week

Analysts are keeping expectations measured. Structural tensions that have been building for a decade render anything other than a thin trade deal unlikely. A partial truce on tariff pauses, purchase pledges and rare earth export deals is more realistic — along with sufficiently vague language for both leaders to sell amid public discontent.

The question of Iran is arguably the one with the most immediate consequences for the world. If Beijing agrees to push Tehran toward a deal, oil markets will react even before the ink is dry. The fact that Hormuz carries 20% of the world oil supplies is not theoretical.

That is all of the gasoline prices, inflation and Fed rate path talk going on this week in Beijing.

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