When President Trump lands in Beijing this week, he’ll be bringing with him the might of U.S. commerce. The U.S. and Chinese leaders meet after steadily escalating tensions over the past year—including a tit-for-tat trade battle following the announcement of the White House’s “Liberation Day” tariffs a little over a year ago. But it seems President Trump is keen to thaw tensions ahead of the meeting. Writing on Truth Social, a social media platform he owns, last night, the president said: “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing country, with a leader, President Xi, respected by all.” He added that “great things” will happen for both countries.
Trump has long insisted he has a “great relationship” with China’s President Xi, though relations have been barbed in recent months. China accused the U.S. of “typical … double standards” and insisted it was not afraid of a trade war after Trump threatened further tariffs in October. Meanwhile, Trump claimed China had “totally violated” the terms of the agreement made after Liberation Day, quipping this may not be a surprise to some.
The White House rhetoric that trade partners woukd “eat” the tariff increases (as opposed to U.S. consumers) hasn’t quite worked in the case of China. The rival global superpower appears to simply have shifted its focus away from the U.S. According to trade figures released by the Chinese government for April, exports surged by 14.1% year on year.
China’s export growth isn’t coming from the U.S., according to reports from The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). The OEC wrote that in February 2026, year-on-year growth was primarily driven by increased demand from Hong Kong, Germany, and South Korea.
This might mean Trump has a weaker hand in negotiations than in previous meetings, with Beijing now less reliant on the U.S. as a trading partner.
Bringing out the big names
Even if China has managed to sidestep Trump’s foreign policy changes to some extent, the White House will be arriving on President Xi’s doorstep with some of the globe’s most notable names in tow. This morning, a White House official confirmed to Fortune that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook had been invited to join the U.S. president at his meetings in China. Also in the line-up of invitees is BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg.
Also travelling to China with the delegation will be Goldman Sach’s David Solomon, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Cargill’s Brian Sikes, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, Coherent’s Jim Anderson, GE Aerospace’s H. Lawrence Culp Jr., Illumina’s Jacob Thaysen, Mastercard’s Michael Miebach, Meta Platforms executive Dina Powell McCormick, MicronTechnology’s Sanjay Mehrotra, Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon and Visa’s Ryan McInerney.
Elon Musk’s potential attendance would mark a return to the political circle from which he was ejected last year. Musk played a key role in President Trump’s election campaign and was handed the keys to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) upon Trump’s reelection.
Musk paid the price for his involvement with the Trump team, with EV-maker Tesla targeted and boycotted by customers. Tensions reportedly continued to rise as Musk criticized of Trump’s policies, while the White House threatened to terminate contracts with his businesses.
The extent to which the rift is healed is unknown (the duo did attend the same event in Saudi Arabia in November), but Trump seemingly wants the star power of the richest man on the planet by his side in Beijing, and Musk may be willing to provide it.
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