Domestically battered in the mid-term elections, U.S President Donald Trump is heading to Asia next week to restore prestige on the global diplomatic stage by bringing together Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and China’s leader Xi Jinping in an unprecedented nuclear summit. It is an ambitious attempt to change the conversation from electoral setbacks at home to superpower diplomacy abroad amid an increasingly complicated domestic political landscape that includes a spy sex scandal, a disastrous air traffic fiasco and growing fissures in the Trump cabinet.
The Trump-Xi-Putin meeting, scheduled for November 19 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, will bring together leaders of the world's three most consequential nuclear powers for their first trilateral summit, although all three attended the 2019 G20 gathering. U.S officials who briefed the media on the upcoming trip put arms control issues on top of the agenda while indicating Trump would not be raising the Jensen Huang spy scandal with Xi.
The return of the nuclear issue to the forefront is significant. The last remaining nuclear arms-control agreement between Washington and Moscow, New START, expired in February, removing legally binding limits on the two countries' strategic nuclear arsenals for the first time in more than half a century. Trump has rejected a simple extension, arguing that any future arrangement should include China. Although no agreement is expected, the White House describes the Shenzhen conversation as an opportunity to begin discussions on the subject.
China, with an estimated arsenal exceeding 600 warheads, remains substantially behind the American and Russian stockpiles, each exceeding 5,000. Beijing has little incentive to accept constraints while it is expanding its nuclear capabilities. Still, for Xi, participation offers an opportunity to reinforce China's position as an indispensable global power. For Putin, it provides another platform to engage Washington directly and demonstrate that Russia is not internationally isolated. Conspicuously sidelined in these engagements is India, now treated as a distant middling power of little consequence on the global stage.
The more immediate bilateral business, however, will be trade with China and the Ukraine issue with Russia. Trump and Xi are expected to review the fragile trade truce, Chinese purchases of American goods, market access and unresolved disputes over critical minerals and advanced technology. Washington wants Beijing to honour its commitments while retaining leverage over semiconductor exports. The future of Nvidia's powerful H200 artificial-intelligence chips, which the Trump administration has permitted to be exported to approved Chinese customers under restrictions, is simmering against the backdrop of the Jensen Huang controversy.
Nvidia's co-founder resigned as chief executive on November 12 following revelations about extramarital relationships, including one involving Alice Huang, a Singapore-based business executive suspected by US intelligence agencies of being a Chinese intelligence asset. The allegations are particularly sensitive because Megaspeed International, where Alice Huang previously worked, has been accused of facilitating the diversion of Nvidia's advanced chips into China. Washington has long accused Beijing of systematic intellectual-property theft, industrial espionage and cyber-enabled theft of American commercial and military technology. The allegations against Alice Huang, however, remain under investigation; they have not been independently established, and Beijing denies the espionage claims. Nvidia has also initiated an independent investigation into whether its former CEO was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
Yet Trump has indicated that he will not raise the Huang affair with Xi, with two senior administration officials confirming that assessment while briefing the media. Trump himself said: "No, I don't think so", when asked whether he would bring it up, adding that he expected Xi might ask him about it. He has also repeatedly defended Jensen Huang, describing him as an honourable man who built a great company. There are several reasons for Washington's reluctance to take on Beijing. First, the intelligence investigation is ongoing, and publicly confronting China could expose sensitive intelligence sources and methods. Second, the administration wants to keep intelligence and law-enforcement matters separate from negotiations over trade. Raising an unproven espionage allegation involving a prominent American businessman could also complicate an already delicate relationship with Beijing. The immediate priority, it appears, is securing economic and strategic gains, not turning the summit into a public spat over an individual.
There is another intriguing Silicon Valley subplot to the summit. Elon Musk will accompany Trump to Asia, after having publicly signed a petition seeking Huang's reinstatement as Nvidia CEO. Musk announced his support on X on Friday, a day after Huang's resignation. Huang himself, who accompanied Trump on his May visit to China after receiving a personal invitation from the President, will not be travelling this time. His absence is conspicuous: he had been an important business interlocutor on the previous visit, particularly over Nvidia's efforts to secure access to the Chinese market. Musk, meanwhile, brings his own substantial interests through Tesla and SpaceX, including commercial and national-security stakes that make him a critical presidential adviser.
