Trump Arrives in China With Entourage of Tech CEOs

Trump arrived in China on Wednesday for his summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping accompanied by an entourage of billionaire tech CEOs.

Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang were just 3 of 17 tech executives who joined Trump at the summit. Trump was also joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

On his Truth Social account, Trump posted that it is “an Honor” to have the tech executives traveling with him to China, and named a dozen of the business leaders who would be joining the group. Trump said he “will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China” to work more closely with these companies, asserting that this would benefit both the U.S. and China.

Huang, who was added later to the list of tech executives, is the CEO of Nvidia, which has become central to the global race over AI. Nvidia’s computer chips are essential to AI projects, and the chips have given Trump leverage with Saudi Arabia, the U.K., and China.

Many of the executives joining Trump in China have donated extensively to Trump’s campaigns. Huang, for example, attended a $1-million-a-head dinner at Mar-a-Lago last year. Following the dinner, Trump paused restrictions on the sale of Nvidia’s AI chips to China.

Tech executives have cozied up to Trump over the course of his second presidency. Last year, Trump hosted 33 Silicon Valley leaders including Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Tim Cook, and Bill Gates at a White House dinner, which saw the tech leaders heaping praise on the president. This is part of a trend that has seen an increased integration between top business leaders and the administration.

Trump is set to meet with Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday to discuss trade, U.S. support for Taiwan, and China’s support for Iran during the ongoing war.

On Tuesday, before leaving for the summit, Trump told reporters, “We’re going to be talking with President Xi [Jinping] about a lot of different things. I would say more than anything else will be trade.”

“We’re the strongest nation on Earth in terms of military. China’s considered second, who knows,” he continued. “I have a great relationship with President Xi, and I think it’s going to remain that way. We have a lot of things to discuss.”

The U.S. and China have had a tumultuous relationship over the past few years. Last year, China pushed Trump to back down from his steep tariffs on the country.

The war on Iran has been another area of conflict, as China is Iran’s largest trading partner, purchasing the vast majority of its exported oil and supplying technology to its military. The U.S. recently sanctioned several Chinese firms that it accused of supplying satellite imagery to the Iranian military and assisting in Iran’s oil shipments; China denounced the sanctions.

Over the past decade, China has also come to rival the U.S. and its global superpower status. Since 2023, China has aimed to position itself as an alternative to the U.S. across the Middle East in order to gain more leverage in negotiations in the region, while the U.S. has seen a relative decline.