President Donald Trump plans to bring Elon Musk with him next week to the Philippines and China, The Associated Press reports.
Administration officials, speaking anonymously on a Friday call with reporters, said Musk’s economic and national security interests as head of SpaceX and Tesla make him a valuable adviser.
The trip comes as fallout spreads from Jensen Huang’s ouster as Nvidia CEO over an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, an alleged agent of the Chinese government. Beijing denies she is a spy.
Her company, Megaspeed, was accused last year of shipping Nvidia’s advanced chips into China. Officials said Trump does not plan to raise the matter with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Trump arrives in Manila on Tuesday to meet Southeast Asian leaders, sign a trade deal with Thailand and meet with Quad partners India, Australia and Japan.
On Wednesday he heads to the APEC summit in Shenzhen for his third in-person meeting with Xi this year, followed by a joint meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Musk will not take part in that session.
This is not Musk’s first trip with Trump this year. AP reporting carried by PBS NewsHour shows he flew with the president to Beijing in May.
Click here to read the full story on ABC News
