President Donald Trump has invited more than a dozen of America’s most powerful corporate heads to accompany him to Beijing this week for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Washington is trying to stabilize trade relations worth hundreds of billions of dollars while overcoming deepening tensions over artificial intelligence, rare earth minerals and the ongoing war in Iran.
Full list of CEOs who joined Trump’s China trip
The White House has confirmed that Trump’s delegation to Beijing will include some of the biggest names in global business. Tesla chief Elon Musk, Apple chief Tim Cook, BlackRock chief Larry Fink and Boeing chief Kelly Ortberg are among those invited to join the president’s trip, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the list has not been formally announced.
Read also | China confirms Trump-Xi Beijing meeting – what the world is watching
Also traveling with the delegation are Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Brian Sikes of Cargill, Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Jim Anderson of Coherent, H. Lawrence Culp Jr. of GE Aerospace, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Jacob Thaysen of Illumina, Michael Miebach McCin of Mastercard, Micro Technology CEO D. Po San Metawelly Platforms. Mehrotra, Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon and Visa’s Ryan McInerney.
People also ask
Artificial intelligence reinforced the insights from this story
•5 QUESTIONS
The delegation includes prominent CEOs such as Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg. Other confirmed attendees include leaders from Blackstone, Cargill, Citigroup, Coherent, GE Aerospace, Goldman Sachs, Illumina, Mastercard, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Qualcomm and Visa.
President Trump aims to stabilize the US-China trade relationship, which spans hundreds of billions of dollars. The summit agenda is expected to include trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan and the war in Iran, with a focus on maintaining stable economic relations and possibly expanding the trade truce.
Several issues could derail the deals, including China’s control of rare earth minerals, US restrictions on advanced AI computer chips, China’s dominance in the auto sector, ongoing tariff disputes and US sanctions related to Iranian oil shipments. Disagreements over the Panama Canal are also raising tensions.
The summit could affect chip stocks because of potential deals in rare earths and advanced chip-making machinery. If China gains access to high-end chip-making tools, it could lead to lower chip prices and affect the market share of companies such as TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung.
Taiwan is seen as a major risk point and is expected to be high on the agenda. Beijing has called on the US to reduce security commitments and revise its policy towards the island, which China claims as its own territory.
Cisco confirmed that its boss, Chuck Robbins, had received an invitation to the White House, but was unable to attend due to the company’s revenue schedule.
Notably absent from the group is Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, who said in a recent interview: “We should let the president announce whatever he decides to announce. If he were invited, it would be a privilege, it would be a great honor to represent the United States.” General Motors, Disney and Alphabet, all of which have significant interests in China, were also not listed among the companies involved.
What Trump hopes to achieve in Beijing
Trump framed the summit largely optimistically, telling reporters last week: “We do a lot of business with China and we make a lot of money. We make a lot of money, it’s different than it used to be.”
The summit agenda is expected to cover trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan and the Iran war, with the two sides entering talks after weeks of escalating tensions. The gathering is primarily focused on maintaining stable economic relations, with only modest political announcements widely expected. A trade truce reached last October is likely to be extended, while China may announce plans to buy US soybeans, beef and Boeing aircraft.
Read also | US warns China of visa sanctions over suspended migrant deportations
US officials have also signaled the possible creation of a Board of Trade to keep the two sides engaged in economic matters. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he “highlighted” the value of a “new intergovernmental trade committee” in a call with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on April 30, suggesting the body could improve trade in goods that do not raise national security concerns, such as agricultural products, while excluding sensitive technologies such as computer chips.
Brett Fetterly, managing director of China-focused consultancy The Asia Group, said some in the Trump administration believe “the outcome that matters more than any set of deliverables is stability and room for continued engagement, both to build domestic resilience and to facilitate future deals.”
US-China trade numbers tell a more complicated story
Despite the upbeat rhetoric, underlying business data paints a more sobering picture. According to data from the US Census Bureau, China bought almost $50 billion less in American products last year than in 2022. The trade imbalance between the two countries was $202 billion last year.
China’s share of U.S. imports has also fallen sharply, falling from 22 percent at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017 to just 7.5 percent in the first three months of this year, according to government data analyzed by Chad Bowen, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and co-author of How to Win a Trade War.
Read also | US finds ‘Chinese gift’ to Iran: Trump after ship seized in Hormuz
The United States now imports more goods from Taiwan than China, a shift largely driven by an artificial intelligence race that has American firms buying computer chips and servers from the self-governing island. Meanwhile, China is increasingly routing its US-bound products through other Asian countries, while US companies have shifted electronics supply chains to Vietnam and India.
Washington and Beijing are not solving the same problem
Beneath the diplomatic pageantry, the path to any lasting agreement is complicated by a fundamental difference in priorities between the two governments.
“Washington and Beijing are competing at different levels and in different areas, with different theories of victory,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow on US-China relations at the Hudson Institute. “President Trump has not used tariffs as a weapon against China, but as leverage to secure a trade deal. Xi Jinping is trying to win the Cold War with the United States.”
Read also | Trump-Xi meeting may be delayed: Delay unrelated to Hormuz issue, China says
Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy adviser on US-China relations at the International Crisis Group, pointed to the Iran war as another source of strategic differences, noting that the disruption of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz affects each country’s industrial calculations differently. “Structural frictions between the United States and China are increasing in number and severity,” Wyne said.
Speaking to CNBC ahead of the trip, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser offered a more measured view of the business community: “I think it’s very important to see engagement” between the two economic superpowers, adding, “We all need that engagement to happen.”
Fault lines that could derail the Trump-Xi Jinping Beijing summit
Several outstanding issues lie beneath the surface of this week’s talks and have the potential to derail any agreements reached.
China controls most of the world’s rare-earth mining and nearly all processing of minerals widely used in electronics, a sticking point that the Trump administration is addressing through new partnerships and domestic investment, though analysts warn the strategy will evolve over several years.
Read also | Former Chinese official reveals how Beijing spies on citizens at home and abroad
On the technology front, the US is pushing to limit China’s access to the most advanced computer chips, including those designed by Nvidia and AMD, which carry the computing power needed to advance the development of artificial intelligence.
China’s dominance of the global automotive sector also remains a sticking point. Its global vehicle exports rose 21 percent last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, with Chinese electric vehicles priced well below those made by U.S., German, Italian, Japanese and South Korean manufacturers.
Tariffs also remain a lively topic. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump lacked the authority to unilaterally impose many of last year’s tariffs, while a federal court last week ruled his temporary replacement tariffs illegal. The administration has since launched a national security investigation under the Trade Act of 1974 with the goal of creating a new tariff framework that may prove legally permanent.
Read also | Beijing vows ‘measures’ after CIA recruitment ad targets Chinese military
U.S. sanctions against a Chinese oil refinery and dozens of tankers and shipping firms for their role in transporting Iranian oil have added to tensions, with Beijing responding by demanding that no side comply with U.S. sanctions on Chinese businesses. The two countries are also at odds over the management of the Panama Canal.
