America's Most Powerful CEOs Head to Beijing: Trump Takes Wall Street to the Xi Summit

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The Delegation: Who's Going to Beijing

When President Donald Trump lands in Beijing this week, he won't be traveling alone. The White House has confirmed that Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook, and Boeing's Kelly Ortberg are among the executives invited to join Trump's delegation for the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The financial world is equally well-represented. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman, BlackRock's Larry Fink, Citigroup's Jane Fraser, and Meta's Dina Powell McCormick are also expected to make the trip. In total, the delegation is said to include more than a dozen senior business figures.

The message from Washington is clear: this summit is as much about commerce as it is about diplomacy.

A Visit Nine Years in the Making

Beijing officially confirmed that Trump will make a state visit from May 13 to 15, the first by a sitting U.S. president in nearly a decade — since Trump's own visit to China in November 2017.

The visit was originally planned for the first week of April, but was postponed to May due to the ongoing 2026 Iran war. The rescheduling reflected just how much geopolitical turbulence surrounds this summit — yet both sides pressed ahead, signaling that the economic stakes were too high to delay further.

What's on the Table

The business delegation isn't just for show. The Chinese side is expected to announce or reaffirm buying commitments for U.S. commodities — particularly soybeans and other agricultural products — alongside a rumored large-scale purchase of Boeing passenger aircraft.

The U.S. is also expected to push for continued access to critical and rare earth minerals, and discussions may touch on China's policies regarding advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. The presence of Tim Cook and Elon Musk makes the tech dimension especially significant — Apple manufactures a large share of its products in China, while Tesla operates a major factory in Shanghai.

Both leaders are also likely to announce the creation of a bilateral "Board of Trade" aimed at identifying non-sensitive sectors for ongoing purchase commitments and limited tariff adjustments.

High Stakes, Measured Expectations

Analysts caution against expecting a sweeping transformation of U.S.–China relations. Brookings Institution experts describe the summit as a meeting that can be better understood for what it aims to avoid — a breakdown in relations — than for what it seeks to achieve.

The Council on Foreign Relations notes that Beijing likely sees this as an opportunity to buy time to consolidate its technological and industrial position, while the U.S. is primarily looking for symbolic wins rather than deep structural reforms.

One cautionary example looms in the background: during Trump's 2017 Beijing visit, a memorandum of understanding worth $83.7 billion was announced for West Virginia — a figure that exceeded the state's entire GDP and ultimately never materialized.

Geopolitical Shadows

The summit takes place against a backdrop of significant tensions. The ongoing Iran war has impacted U.S.–China relations and complicated China's ties with Tehran — relationships formalized in a 25-year strategic partnership signed in 2021.

Taiwan also remains a delicate topic. Some analysts warn that Taiwan could get crowded out by other pressing issues, including trade, export controls, and the conflict in Iran — leaving one of the most sensitive questions in the relationship without adequate discussion.

Still, the very fact that this meeting is happening — with Wall Street in tow — reflects an unmistakable political signal: the Trump administration is betting on business to bridge the divide.

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Sources:

1. Bloomberg – Musk, Cook Among CEOs Joining Trump for Xi Summit: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-11/musk-cook-set-to-join-trump-for-xi-summit-white-house-says
2. Council on Foreign Relations – What to Expect Ahead of Next Week's Trump-Xi Summit: https://www.cfr.org/articles/what-to-expect-ahead-of-next-weeks-trump-xi-summit
3. Council on Foreign Relations – At the Trump-Xi Summit, China Will Have the Upper Hand: https://www.cfr.org/articles/at-the-trump-xi-summit-china-will-have-the-upper-hand
4. Brookings Institution – What Will Happen When Trump Meets Xi?: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-will-happen-when-trump-meets-xi/
5. World Economic Forum – US-China Relations: What to Expect from the Trump-Xi Summit: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/05/what-to-expect-trump-xi-summit-china-us/
6. Wikipedia – 2026 State Visit by Donald Trump to China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_state_visit_by_Donald_Trump_to_China

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