By Laurie Chen, Trevor Hunnicutt and Heejin Kim
BEIJING/SEOUL, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump picked up Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Alaska en route to a high-stakes Beijing summit with China's Xi Jinping, while his top trade negotiator Scott Bessent began preparatory talks with Chinese officials in South Korea.
With his public approval ratings bruised by the Iran war, Trump embarks on his first visit to China in nearly a decade aiming to strike deals on farm goods and airplanes and maintain
a fragile trade war truce between the world's top two economies.
The CEOs accompanying Trump are drawn mainly from companies seeking to resolve business issues with China, such as Nvidia, which U.S. officials say 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," Trump said in post on Truth Social, referring to the delegation which he confirmed included Huang.
"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 had not figured on an initial list of travelling executives provided by the White House this week.
Huang was spotted boarding Air Force One during a refuelling halt in Alaska, with Trump due to arrive in Beijing late on Wednesday ahead of meetings with Xi that will include a banquet and a tour of UNESCO heritage site Temple of Heaven.
Apart from trade, the talks will cover a host of thorny issues from the Iran war to nuclear weapons and U.S. arms salesto Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China.
Trump is widely expected to encourage China to convince Tehran to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict, though he said on Tuesday he did not think he would need its help.
BESSENT PREPS IN SOUTH KOREA
As Trump prepared for the pomp-filled occasion, Treasury Secretary Bessent began talks on economic and trade matters with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at South Korea's Incheon airport on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks said.
Both sides are eager to maintain a trade 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.
They are also expected to agree to forums to ease mutual trade and investment, while Washington is eager to sell Boeing airplanes, American agriculture and energy to China to reduce a trade deficit that has irked Trump, U.S. officials have said.
Beijing, for its part, wants the U.S. to ease curbs on exports of chipmaking equipment and advanced semiconductors.
But Trump enters the talks with a significantly weakened hand. Courts have hemmed in his ability to levy tariffs on Chinese and other international exports at will. Trump has vowed to build back those tariffs using remaining legal authorities.
The Iran war has boosted inflationary pressures at home and sharply increased 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.
"Given last year's trade war, keeping the status quo, rather than escalating, is already good news," said Liu Qian, founder and CEO of Wusawa Advisory, a geopolitical and business advisory firm, based in Beijing.
"That said, 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... so mid-term elections can be secured."
While Trump has lauded his personal rapport and respect for Xi, the Chinese public views the visit with a mix of hope and suspicion.
"The U.S. economy has been going downhill ... it's been declining. So I think he's coming here because he wants things to move in a better direction," Han Huiming, a 23-year-old insurance professional, told Reuters outside a metro station in Beijing as he headed to work on Wednesday.
"I don't know if he's genuinely sincere about this," said Lou Huilian, a 44-year-old who works in the oil trade. "But speaking as a Chinese person, and as someone working in trade, I just hope some good policies can come out of this."
(Reporting by Laurie Chen, Antoni Slodkowski, Trevor Hunnicutt, Nicoco Chan and Xiaoyu Yin in Beijing; Heejin Kim and Brenda Goh in Seoul and karen Freifeld in New York; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
