Musk tipped to join Trump's APEC delegation in Shenzhen

Elon Musk is expected to tag along with Donald Trump's delegation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive would join the US president for the two-day summit on November 18 and 19.

Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and Nvidia chief Jensen Huang were also lined up for the trip, the same sources said, mirroring their presence on Trump's state visit to Beijing in May. Huang's spot, however, is now up in the air over allegations he had an affair with a reported Chinese spy.

The Nvidia CEO is already fighting a proposed class action in federal court in San Jose, California, Reuters reported, with shareholders claiming he and the company defrauded them by keeping the relationship and the national security worries it raised under wraps. Trump weighed in at the White House on Monday, calling Huang “a very high-quality person” who is “suffering greatly,” and saying: “If there is a problem, we will let you know.”

Huang has been quietly pulling back from the public calendar. Business Insider reported he won't appear at several scheduled events this week, including an interview at Anthropic's forum in Montecito, and his name has disappeared from the speaker list for the ElevenLabs Summit in New York on November 11.

There may be a bigger guest list in Shenzhen. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday that a trilateral meeting between Xi Jinping, Trump and Vladimir Putin is likely, confirming Beijing is in touch with Washington and Moscow. The three leaders are expected to gather on the sidelines of APEC on November 18 or 19.