US President Donald Trump is set to travel to Beijing this week for a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and he is taking some of America’s biggest business names along with him.
The White House confirmed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and more than a dozen other top business leaders have been invited to join Trump’s delegation to China.
The full list of invited executives includes Larry Fink of BlackRock, Kelly Ortberg of Boeing, Dina Powell McCormick of Meta, Ryan McInerney of Visa, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Brian Sikes of Cargill, Jane Fraser of Citi, Larry Culp of GE Aerospace, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron and Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm.
The delegation covers key industries including aviation, technology, banking and social media, as the Trump administration looks to negotiate trade agreements and manage the flow of sensitive goods between the world’s two largest economies.
What Will Be Discussed?
The summit agenda is expected to cover trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan and the Iran war with both sides entering the talks after weeks of escalating tensions over AI technology, sanctions and rare earth exports.
Trump told reporters at the White House: “I have a great relationship with President Xi. We’re doing a lot of business, but it’s smart business.”
Why Are CEOs Going?
Musk and several other business leaders in the delegation have significant business interests in China making their presence at the summit particularly meaningful for future trade and investment decisions between the two countries.
Notably, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was not on the invited list. He had previously said in a CNBC interview that if invited, it would be “a great honor to represent the United States.”
When Is the Summit?
Trump will travel to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping on May 14 and 15 — a summit that was originally planned for late March but was pushed back after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
