Donald Trump is bringing one of the largest corporate delegations in recent memory to China this week, with 17 US executives confirmed as part of the official trip to Beijing, a White House official told the BBC.
The group includes Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Dina Powell McCormick of Meta, Boeing chief Kelly Ortberg, Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon, Jane Fraser of Citi, and Ryan McInerney of Visa. Also travelling are the heads of Blackstone, Cargill, Coherent, GE Aerospace, Illumina, Mastercard, and Micron Technology.
Jensen Huang of Nvidia was not on the initial confirmed list, but was spotted boarding Air Force One when it refuelled in Anchorage, Alaska. Nvidia confirmed his presence shortly after. “Jensen is attending the summit at the invitation of President Trump to support America and the administration’s goals,” a company spokesperson said.
The inclusion of Micron chief Sanjay Mehrotra is notable. China restricted the use of some Micron chips in critical national infrastructure in 2023, citing security concerns, a decision the company said hit its China business. Semiconductors remain one of the most contested areas of the US-China relationship.
Chuck Robbins of Cisco was invited but could not attend due to a scheduled earnings call, a company spokeswoman said.
Trump’s visit is his first to China as a sitting president in nearly a decade. It comes after a prolonged trade war between the two countries saw tariffs at points exceed 100%, before a temporary pause was agreed in October 2025 following a meeting with President Xi Jinping in South Korea. The two leaders are set to meet again in Beijing.
Adding further complexity to the talks is the ongoing US and Israel war in Iran, which had already delayed the summit. Trump is expected to press Xi to use China’s leverage over Tehran, as a major buyer of Iranian oil, to help broker an end to the conflict. China has since reduced oil imports from Iran, though its broader energy reserves have partially shielded it from the war’s economic fallout.
Illumina said its chief executive Jacob Thaysen “is honored to be part of the delegation” and that the company sees the trip as “an opportunity to strengthen relationships and shape the future of precision medicine.” Other companies did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
