16 Business Leaders to Join Trump on High-Stakes China Trip, With Notable Absences

President Donald Trump will travel to Beijing this week for a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, accompanied by a delegation of top U.S. CEOs from the technology, finance and manufacturing sectors. The meetings, which begin May 13, come at a particularly strained moment in U.S.-China relations, with tensions spanning trade, A.I., semiconductor exports, Taiwan, fentanyl trafficking and the economic fallout from the war in Iran.

The White House has invited 16 business leaders to join the trip, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook and BlackRock’s Larry Fink, among others. Trump is expected to meet with Xi later in the week as both sides attempt to stabilize economic and diplomatic ties between the world’s two largest economies.

The delegation reflects the growing role corporate America plays in U.S.-China negotiations, particularly as companies grapple with supply chain disruptions and market-access restrictions. Musk is expected to attend as Tesla seeks Chinese approval for its full self-driving technology, while Boeing is reportedly pursuing a major aircraft order from Chinese buyers.

Trump last visited China in November 2017, before launching the trade war that reshaped relations between Washington and Beijing. That trip focused largely on trade deficits, manufacturing and investment deals, and included executives from firms such as Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm and Boeing. This visit comes under far more complex geopolitical circumstances, with China less dependent on U.S. trade and disputes over A.I., advanced semiconductors and national security now central to negotiations.

Trump also reportedly wants to discuss the creation of a new “board of investment” and “board of trade” with China, with some members of the business delegation potentially serving on those bodies.

Among the semiconductor executives expected to attend are Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was notably not invited. Nvidia is awaiting approval from both U.S. and Chinese regulators to begin shipping an early version of its H200 A.I. chip to China. The U.S. has maintained tight restrictions on advanced chip exports to China, arguing the technology could support Chinese military and surveillance capabilities.

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins had also been invited to join the delegation but later declined because the trip conflicted with Cisco’s quarterly earnings release scheduled for May 13.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was not included in the delegation. Altman is expected to appear in court in California this week in connection with Musk’s lawsuit against him and OpenAI.

Musk’s inclusion is also politically notable. The Tesla chief had a highly publicized falling-out with Trump after leaving the administration last year, but his participation in the trip signals that the two have largely repaired their relationship in recent months.