MW What CEOs from Tesla, Nvidia and over a dozen other companies hope to gain by joining Trump in China
By Victor Reklaitis
A key part of President Donald Trump's visit to China this week is his effort to bring along with him at least 17 executives from prominent U.S. companies. Here's what it means for them.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang follow President Donald Trump as he steps off Air Force One in Beijing on Wednesday.
A key part of President Donald Trump's visit to China this week is his effort to bring along with him at least 17 executives from prominent U.S. companies.
Trump said in a social-media post that he'll ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to "open up" China "so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People's Republic to an even higher level," adding that it would be his "very first request" to his counterpart.
In actuality, U.S. companies have been operating in China for decades, but face problems such as intellectual-property theft, requirements to partner with a Chinese company and anti-American sentiment sparked by Trump's tariff rollouts, along with sector-specific concerns.
So what's really in it for these CEOs and their companies? Below is a rundown of the executives making the trip and what could be at stake.
At least 17 big companies have sent executives, with 16 deploying their CEOs. Meta Platforms, the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has sent another exec instead of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Cisco $(CSCO)$ CEO Chuck Robbins was invited but isn't able to take part due to the company's earnings release this week, according to multiple published reports.
-- Apple AAPL CEO Tim Cook (due to be succeeded on Sept. 1 by John Ternus): Cook has been adept at getting exemptions from Trump's tariffs, and he's likely aiming to ensure his successor also ends up with a good relationship with the president.
-- Boeing BA CEO Kelly Ortberg: Boeing investors are hoping that a big aircraft order from China will be one of the deals unveiled during this week's trip. Such an order has been baked into Boeing's stock price, but it would still be good news, one portfolio manager said.
-- Cargill CEO Brian Sikes: Analysts at JPMorgan said in a note that Trump and Xi could agree on "narrow purchase commitments" for soybeans and other agricultural products. Privately held Cargill would be among the U.S. companies that could benefit from that.
-- Citi C CEO Jane Fraser: She has good reason to be part of the U.S. contingent. Although the bank has wound down its consumer business in China, it still has significant exposure to and ambitions for its business there. As Head of Services Shahmir Khaliq said in February, according to a FactSet transcript, Citi's clients are generally "very large" and significant corporations with global footprints; current U.S.-China relations have created a "very challenging environment" for those clients.
-- GE Aerospace GE Larry Culp: The possible major order for Boeing planes that was mentioned above also would be an order for GE Aerospace's jet engines.
-- Illumina ILMN CEO Jacob Thaysen: Beijing placed Illumina, which makes gene-sequencing machines, on its "unreliable entities list" last year in retaliation for U.S. tariffs and export controls, Michael Hirson, 22V Research's practice head for China, said in a note. The company's presence could help it win eventual removal from this list, which could reduce the U.S.-China tensions in biotech that have been growing, Hirson said.
-- Mastercard MA CEO Michael Miebach: The company scored a domestic-payments license from Chinese regulators in 2020, while rival Visa is still waiting. But now that mobile payments dominate in China, the license's value has dropped, said 22V Research's Hirson.
-- Meta Platforms META President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick: Meta is unlikely to get Chinese regulators to reverse their recent block of its buyout of artificial-intelligence startup Manus, but the company "may wish to avoid lasting ill-will over this affair," said 22V Research's Hirson.
-- Micron Technology MU CEO Sanjay Mehrotra: It's not clear that this week's trip will reduce long-running tensions between the company and Chinese officials, said 22V Research's Hirson. Beijing perceives Micron as having lobbied aggressively for U.S. restrictions on China's semiconductor sector, and China banned Micron from selling into the country's server market in 2023, he said.
-- Nvidia NVDA CEO Jensen Huang: The addition of Huang at the last-minute to Trump's CEO group sent Nvidia's stock soaring on Wednesday. The company has been at the center of the tech competition between the U.S. and China, as the U.S. government has focused on curbing sales of Nvidia's advanced chips to Chinese customers over national-security concerns. During the chip maker's last earnings call in February, Nvidia reported no revenue from China, despite having U.S. government approval to ship some of its H200 chips there.
-- Tesla TSLA CEO Elon Musk (also CEO of SpaceX): China's regulators allowed Tesla to launch a limited version of a self-driving feature in 2024. But the carmaker is seeking broader approval of the software and is expecting an OK as soon as this year's third quarter. China is an important market for Tesla's core electric-vehicle business, even as Musk's company has faced stiff competition from Chinese rivals.
-- Visa V CEO Ryan McInerney: Visa is still waiting on Chinese regulatory approval for a domestic payments license after applying nine years ago, said 22V Research's Hirson. The license would allow Visa to process payments without going through China UnionPay.
Beyond the execs listed above, the business leaders below are also taking part in Trump's trip.
-- BlackRock BLK CEO Larry Fink
-- Blackstone BX CEO Stephen Schwarzman
-- Coherent COHR CEO Jim Anderson
-- Goldman Sachs GS CEO David Solomon
-- Qualcomm QCOM CEO Cristiano Amon
This story may be updated.
Claudia Assis, William Gavin, Tomi Kilgore and Britney Nguyen contributed.
-Victor Reklaitis
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May 13, 2026 12:03 ET (16:03 GMT)
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