From Elon Musk to Jensen Huang: These are all of the CEOs travelling with Trump to make deals in China
Donald Trump landed in Beijing with top U.S. executives as Washington and Beijing attempt to reset a strained trade relationship.
After nine years without a sitting U.S. president visiting China, Donald Trump arrived in Beijing to meet with President Xi Jinping – and he did not come alone. Accompanying him was a group of high-profile executives representing some of America’s biggest industries and corporations.
The business leaders traveling with Trump span sectors including social media, technology, finance, semiconductor manufacturing and commercial aviation. Among them are Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Kelly Ortberg of Boeing, Brian Sikes of Cargill, Jane Fraser of Citi, Larry Culp of GE Aerospace, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron Technology and Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, along with executives from Meta, Visa and Mastercard.
Trump wants China to open its doors to U.S. companies
In a post on Truth Social, the U.S. president revealed that one of the main goals of the diplomatic meeting is to ask Xi Jinping to open the Chinese market to American businesses, including those whose CEOs joined him on the trip.
“I will ask President Xi Jinping to open China so these brilliant people can deploy their talent and help take the People’s Republic of China to an even higher level. In fact, I promise them that when we are together … that will be my first request. I have never seen or heard of an idea more beneficial for our incredible countries!”
The United States and China seek to narrow divisions
Trump’s visit to China marks the first by a U.S. president in nearly a decade. Trump himself was the last American president to visit the country during his first term in 2017, though he met with the Chinese leader last year in South Korea.
Relations between the two nations became strained after Trump returned to the White House, as the U.S. president hit China with steep tariffs. The two leaders held their first meeting in six years on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea at the end of October last year.
After both sides eased tensions in the tariff dispute, Trump and Xi Jinping have increasingly emphasized the need for cooperation to bridge their differences. This week’s visit, aimed at redefining the trade relationship between the world’s two largest economies, could carry global consequences.
According to CNN, Trump’s schedule for May 13 includes a closed-door executive session that will not be open to the press. The U.S. president will also be welcomed by Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The two leaders are expected to take part in a press event before later attending a state banquet that will also be open to reporters.
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