Trump expects to reduce fentanyl tariff, discuss Nvidia in Xi talks

US President Donald Trump said he expects to lower tariffs the US has imposed on Chinese goods over the fentanyl crisis and speak with China’s Xi Jinping about Nvidia Corp’s flagship Blackwell artificial intelligence chip, as leaders of the world’s biggest economies seek to ease tensions in a meeting on Oct 30.

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“I expect to be lowering that because I believe they’re going to help us with the fentanyl situation,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he headed to South Korea on Oct 29, a day before he was slated to meet the Chinese President.

Mr Trump said he expected Beijing would be “doing things” and would work with him directly to address the export of precursor chemicals critical to manufacturing fentanyl.

He did not provide further details on the magnitude of the tariff reduction.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct 28 that Mr Trump was considering cutting the 20 per cent tariff to as low as 10 per cent on Chinese goods over fentanyl.

Mr Trump also suggested he was open to providing China with access to Nvidia’s Blackwell AI processor as part of a trade deal, which would represent a major concession and rile up national security hawks in Washington.

“We'll be speaking about Blackwell,” Mr Trump said, touting the chip as “super duper” and years ahead of what was currently available from other countries.

He said Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang recently brought a version of the chip to the Oval Office for him to see.

AI bellwether Nvidia's shares extended gains to 8.5 per cent in Asian trading on the alternative platform Blue Ocean after Mr Trump’s remarks, signalling potential further gains when US markets open.