President Donald Trump will be accompanied by some of America’s most powerful business executives on his state visit to the United Kingdom next week, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang among the delegation, a source familiar with the plans told CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos on Monday.
According to Sky News, the group will also include Sam Altman of OpenAI, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, and Larry Fink of BlackRock. Apple CEO Tim Cook received an invitation as well, though it remains unclear if he will attend. The trip will feature a state banquet hosted by King Charles, where Trump and the business luminaries are expected to be present.
CEOs seek soft landing amid Trump’s tariff war
The growing presence of leading technology and financial executives at Trump’s side highlights how corporate America is recalibrating its strategy amid the president’s escalating tariff war. With new tariffs targeting Chinese imports and the broader tech sector under increasing regulatory scrutiny, many CEOs see proximity to Trump as a soft-landing strategy—a way of shielding their companies from harsher restrictions or positioning themselves to secure exemptions.
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Nvidia is a clear example. Earlier this year, the Trump administration cut off Nvidia’s access to the Chinese market by restricting sales of advanced AI chips. Huang immediately moved to build a closer relationship with Trump, arguing that U.S. leadership in AI required some level of continued access to Chinese buyers. His lobbying paid off: after a series of White House meetings over the summer, Trump approved export waivers for Nvidia’s H20 chip, a move that helped the company recoup potential losses.
Following those talks, Trump also opened consideration for the export of other Nvidia chips to China, a step that Huang recently told investors presented a “real possibility” for approval. Such decisions could prove pivotal to Nvidia’s growth, given that the company had earlier been forced to scrap H20 chips that might have accounted for $8 billion in quarterly sales.
Depending on the geopolitical environment, Nvidia now estimates it could sell as much as $5 billion worth of H20 chips in the current quarter.
Trump has publicly praised Nvidia for being a technological leader, celebrating the moment the company’s valuation soared past $4 trillion. Huang, in return, has positioned Nvidia as a national asset, telling the administration that allowing exports strengthens U.S. national security by ensuring that the U.S. stays ahead in the global AI race.
Trump even claimed that he negotiated a 15% cut of Nvidia’s chip sales in China, though Nvidia clarified last month that details of the government’s share had not been finalized.
A pattern of engagement
However, Huang’s attendance on the U.K. trip is consistent with his broader engagement with Trump. In May, he joined the president on a visit to Saudi Arabia for an investment forum, another sign of Nvidia’s strategy of staying closely aligned with the administration’s global economic initiatives.
Meanwhile, other CEOs are navigating similar pressures. While Altman’s OpenAI depends on U.S. government support for research and regulatory clarity, and Cook’s Apple has been vulnerable to tariffs on Chinese-made devices, each executive has reasons to keep ties with the White House warm.
Diplomacy through business
The inclusion of executives like Huang, Altman, Schwarzman, and Fink on the U.K. state visit underscores how Trump is fusing business leadership with foreign policy, using corporate figures as both economic ambassadors and political allies. Their presence at the banquet with King Charles signals a deliberate effort to project American corporate strength abroad, even as tensions over trade, AI, and semiconductor dominance with China continue to loom large.
But for U.S. firms, these appearances are more than ceremonial—they are part of a broader survival strategy in an era of tariffs, export controls, and geopolitical realignments.