Trump Takes 20 Tech CEOs to China, But Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Didn’t Make the Cut

Published: 11 May 2026

Musk, Cook, Amon, Mehrotra. The White House just confirmed a delegation of roughly 20 executives for Trump’s China summit this week. It’s the biggest concentration of US tech leadership on a single diplomatic trip in recent memory. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang is the notable miss.

The delegation

The guest list reads like a Fortune 50 roll call.

Confirmed names include:

Elon Musk (Tesla)
Tim Cook (Apple)
Kelly Ortberg (Boeing)
Larry Fink (BlackRock)
Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone)
David Solomon (Goldman Sachs)
Jane Fraser (Citigroup)
Larry Culp (GE Aerospace)
Chuck Robbins (Cisco)
Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm)
Michael Miebach (Mastercard)
Ryan McInerney (Visa)
Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron)
Dina Powell McCormick (Meta)

A White House official shared the list on condition of anonymity. No formal announcement has been made.

The Boeing deal

This is the headline underneath the headline.

Ortberg told Reuters in April that Boeing needs the Trump administration’s help to unlock a Chinese order that’s been in talks for years. Industry sources say the deal could include:

500 737 MAX jets
Dozens of widebody planes powered by GE engines
China’s first major Boeing order since 2017

If it goes through, it’d be the largest airplane order in history.

The Huang’s absence

Jensen Huang won’t be on the plane. He wasn’t invited.

The White House is keeping this trip narrow: aviation orders, agriculture, and commercial deals. NVIDIA fits a different conversation, even though Trump approved exports of H200 chips to China earlier this year. Those chips still haven’t sold. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in April that Chinese companies are struggling to get Beijing’s clearance to buy them.

What this trip actually is

The Council on Foreign Relations put it plainly before the summit: this is about stabilizing the relationship, not resolving it.

Taiwan, trade policy, South China Sea, China’s ties with Russia and Iran. None of that gets solved in Beijing this week. What might get signed are purchase agreements, maybe a record Boeing order, maybe some agricultural commitments.

A lot of handshakes. A few deals. And one very conspicuous empty seat.

Source: Reuters