Hilarious unseen moments from Trump's historic China trip from peeking at notes during Xi's banquet speech to Nvidia CEO's noodle run

By WILL POTTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 19:14, 15 May 2026 | Updated: 19:17, 15 May 2026 Donald Trump's historic visit to Beijing this week marked a major milestone in the diplomatic efforts of his second term.  But during the ritzy state dinners and high-stakes negotiations with President Xi Jinping, the US delegation captured headlines with a number of eyebrow-raising antics.  In one on-camera incident that went viral across social media, Trump was caught sneaking a glimpse at preparation notes left on the table just seconds after Xi got up at a state dinner.  Many speculated that Trump was trying to sneak a peek at Xi's own notes to get a head-start on the Chinese leader's thoughts.  However it was quickly pointed out that Trump was peeking at a notebook with a US presidential seal, indicating he was likely double-checking his own memos at the critical meeting.  And while much of Trump's trip was focused on deal-making and posturing between the two nations, the large US delegation, which included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple chief Tim Cook, and Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, also seemed to find some space for fun.  In a moment that Chinese social media reportedly went wild for, Huang - who was born in Taiwan but lives in California - was seen breaking away from Trump's schedule to make the most of his time in Asia.  Huang slipped away from the busy Trump schedule to enjoy a bowl of zhajiangmian noodles, a traditional Chinese dish served with a soybean sauce.  Beyond the high-stakes negotiations and state dinners of Donald Trump's trip to China this week, the US delegation had a number of headline grabbing antics - including the US president sneaking a peek at notes during a crucial dinner meeting with Xi Jinping Nvidia boss Jensen Huang went viral across Chinese social media with his reaction to eating a bowl of zhajiangmian noodles, after he slipped away from Trump's schedule for a spot of fun Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, broke away from President Trump’s schedule and headed straight into one of Beijing’s traditional hutongs to enjoy a bowl of zhajiangmian (noodles with soybean paste) from the famous Fangzhuan workshop. pic.twitter.com/TyPrlYqtdT Despite being one of the world's richest men, the tech executive couldn't contain his excitement as he tucked into the dish in front of the cameras.  Huang exclaimed 'wow!' as he ate, raising his eyebrows and pointing to the eatery behind him as he added, 'This is so good.'  While Huang seemed to embrace the trip, another moment appeared to indicate Musk was growing visibly irritated at being mobbed by Chinese business leaders during the meetings.  Footage of Musk at the state banquet on Wednesday showed the billionaire rolling his eyes and sighing exasperatedly as business leaders snapped photos of him from a distance. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun then approached Musk for a photo, to which Musk reluctantly agreed, posing with a strange, wink-like expression before immediately turning away to check his phone. That same evening, the Tesla mogul was also seen posing with Apple CEO Tim Cook for a photo, in which he decided to pull a series of quirky faces. In another moment that captured the lighter side of the historic visit, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was seen gazing up in awe at the decorations in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.  Rubio let his focus on negotiations with China's leaders slip as he pointed up to the eye-catching ornamentation - at one point nudging Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to also compliment the decor.  In another moment that captured the lighter side of the historic visit, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was seen gazing up in awe at the decorations in Beijing's Great Hall of the People Rubio let his focus on negotiations with China's leaders slip as he pointed up to the eye-catching ornamentation - at one point nudging Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to also compliment the decor The lighthearted moments came as Trump lauded the whirlwind trip to China as a success, boasting that he reached 'fantastic trade deals' with Xi.  As he left Asia on Friday, Trump said he had been angling to find common ground on everything from trade and tariffs to Tehran and Taiwan.  Trump lavished praise on his 'friend' Xi, calling him 'a great leader.'  Trump added to reporters that Xi 'very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation,' adding that the Chinese President was not talking about his tenure, but that of his predecessor, President Joe Biden. 'He was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100 percent correct,' Trump said in his only social media post on the Beijing trip. The lighthearted moments came as Trump lauded the whirlwind trip to China as a success, boasting that he reached 'fantastic trade deals' with Xi  US President Donald Trump makes a toast as he attends a state banquet with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People  It's not clear if Xi made the dig publicly or privately at one of the events this week, but at the top of his remarks Thursday, the Chinese leader mused whether the US and China could avoid the 'Thucydides trap,' a theory that war could result when tensions arise between a rising power and a ruling power. The Chinese leader struck a much less positive tone - noting in a readout 'I have agreed with President Trump on a new vision of building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability.' 'The two countries should expand exchanges and cooperation in areas such as the economy and trade, health, agriculture, tourism, people-to-people ties and law enforcement,' Xi added. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.