Trump won't raise the Nvidia spy issue with Xi on his China trip
Senior U.S. officials say President Donald Trump will not raise the Jensen Huang spy allegations with China's Xi Jinping in Shenzhen, keeping the focus on implementing the trade agreement.
Off the agenda in Shenzhen
President Donald Trump is not expected to raise allegations of a Chinese intelligence operation involving former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, senior U.S. officials said on Friday. The officials, speaking on a press call on condition they not be identified, said the matter should have no bearing on the trip.
“The situation with Nvidia should not really have any bearing on the trip,” one official said. Another added that the United States does not negotiate its export controls with China, saying: “We do not negotiate American export controls.” Asked whether Trump would raise the allegations against Alice Huang to Xi, an official said: “The focus of a meeting with President Xi, at least on the economic side, is going to be about implementation of the trade agreement.”
Musk joins the trip, and a three-way summit is planned
Officials also said Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, will accompany Trump on the trip to Shenzhen for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Nov. 18 and 19. One official said Musk has tremendous business interests in the U.S.-China relationship and is a big part of national security, adding that he would be of tremendous benefit as an adviser to the president.
The White House said earlier on Friday that Trump plans a three-way summit in Shenzhen with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters, citing the New York Post, reported the trilateral meeting is expected to take place on Thursday and focus largely on developing an ambitious nuclear arms control pact, with discussions that could also touch on North Korea and the Iran war.
- APEC summit in ShenzhenNov. 18 and 19
- Three-way summit with Xi and PutinThursday, during APEC
- House interview with HuangDec. 1
- House interview with TeterDec. 2
- Senate Banking testimonyDecember, Huang and Lutnick summoned
The scandal Trump is leaving at home
Huang resigned on Nov. 12 as Nvidia chief executive after reports that he had an affair with Alice Huang, who is not related to him and whom U.S. authorities suspect of spying for China. The affair has raised concerns that Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud company where she was an executive, diverted restricted Nvidia chips to China, with billions of dollars' worth of chips said to be involved. China has called the allegations against Alice Huang baseless.
The scandal has also raised questions about whether the Commerce Department, led by Howard Lutnick, has moved aggressively enough to block advanced chips from reaching China. In Washington, the Senate Banking Committee has summoned Huang and Lutnick to testify in December, while House committee chairs have demanded closed-door interviews with Huang on Dec. 1 and Nvidia counsel Tim Teter on Dec. 2. Nvidia shares closed at $162.85 on Friday, down 2.01%.
