Trump to skip Nvidia spy scandal in Asia trip, focus on trade and nuclear limits

Key points

• Trump will not raise the allegations against Alice Huang or Jensen Huang with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the APEC summit in Shenzhen.
• Elon Musk will accompany Trump on the trip, serving as an advisor given his national security and economic interests in the U.S.-China relationship.
• The administration views U.S. export controls as non-negotiable and expects no Chinese retaliation regarding the Nvidia chip smuggling allegations.
• Trump will hold a historic trilateral meeting with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, focusing on nuclear weapons limits and the Iran war.
• Musk will not participate in the trilateral meeting, and Trump has no plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Background

The Nvidia scandal involves former CEO Jensen Huang, who resigned after reports of an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, a suspected Chinese agent and executive at Megaspeed International. Megaspeed was accused of shipping restricted Nvidia chips to China. This follows earlier U.S. diplomatic shifts toward transactional deals in Asia and ongoing tensions regarding Russian aggression in Ukraine.

How outlets are covering it

AP, CNBC, and Politico agree that Trump will not raise the Nvidia scandal with Xi, focusing instead on trade implementation. CNBC notes that Musk’s presence is due to his business interests and role in national security, while AP highlights the administration’s stance that export controls are not subject to negotiation. NBC News suggests the scandal may backfire on China by bolstering support for tighter chip restrictions in Washington. All sources confirm the trilateral meeting with Putin will focus on nuclear limits, excluding Ukraine from the agenda.

Why it matters

The decision to sideline the Nvidia scandal signals a prioritization of trade and strategic stability over immediate confrontation with China. It underscores the administration’s view that export controls are unilateral tools, not bargaining chips, while highlighting the complex interplay between AI competition, national security, and diplomatic relations in Asia.

What to watch

Trump is set to arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday to meet ASEAN counterparts and sign a trade deal with Thailand. He will then travel to Shenzhen for the APEC summit on November 18-19, where he will meet Xi and subsequently hold the trilateral meeting with Putin. The administration is also considering closing loopholes in trade measures to prevent remote access to advanced chips by Chinese firms.