Elon Musk and Tim Cook among 17 US CEOs to accompany Trump on China trip
US President Donald Trump is expected to bring 17 top US executives, including Tim Cook of Apple and Elon Musk of Tesla, on his official trip to Beijing this week. The delegation spans technology, finance, and manufacturing, with notable absences including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The visit is the first by a US president in nearly a decade and comes amid a fragile trade truce and ongoing tensions over semiconductors and the war in Iran.
US President Donald Trump is expected to bring 17 top US executives, including Tim Cook of Apple and Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, on his official trip to Beijing this week, a White House official with knowledge of the plans told the BBC.
The delegation spans technology, finance, and manufacturing. Alongside Cook and Musk, the executives joining Trump are: Larry Fink (BlackRock), Dina Powell McCormick (president and vice chair of Meta), Kelly Ortberg (president and CEO of Boeing), Ryan McInerney (CEO of Visa), Stephen Schwarzman (CEO of Blackstone), Brian Sikes (CEO and chairman of Cargill), Jane Fraser (CEO of Citi), Jim Anderson (CEO of Coherent), Henry Lawrence Culp (CEO of GE Aerospace), David Solomon (CEO of Goldman Sachs), Jacob Thaysen (CEO of Illumina), Michael Miebach (president of Mastercard), and Sanjay Mehrotra (CEO of Micron Technology).
Notable absent from the list is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, whose company is central to the US-China rivalry over computer chips and artificial intelligence. Last week, Huang told CNBC that it would be a "privilege" to represent the US in China if he was invited on the trip. Chuck Robbins, CEO and chairman of Cisco, had been invited "but is unable to due to earnings," according to a company spokeswoman.
Mehrotra's presence is noteworthy because Beijing restricted the use of some Micron chips in critical infrastructure in 2023 on national security grounds, a move the firm has said negatively impacted its business in China. A spokeswoman for Illumina said Thaysen "is honored to be part of the delegation" and that the company hopes the trip will be "an opportunity to strengthen relationships and shape the future of precision medicine."
Trump's visit is the first by a US president to China in nearly a decade and marks a key test of a fragile trade truce. Tariffs that at times topped 100% were paused in October 2025 after Trump's last meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which took place in South Korea.
Looming over the meeting is the US and Israel's war in Iran, which has already forced a delay to Trump and Xi's meeting. Trump is expected to push China, which relies on Iran for cheap oil, to help facilitate an agreement between Tehran and Washington to end the war.