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President Donald Trump’s scheduled trip to China this week is still on, despite the war with Iran, and, according to multiple sources, the president is set to be joined on his trip by a slate of powerhouse CEOs.
On Monday, the White House released a list of businesspeople who will travel with the U.S. delegation to China for the May 14-15 trip, sharing it with multiple media outlets.
According to The New York Times, the delegation reportedly includes the heads of these massive companies: Tim Cook (Apple), Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone), Larry Fink (BlackRock), Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Jane Fraser (Citi), Jim Anderson (Coherent), Larry Culp (Aerospace), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), Jacob Thaysen (Illumina), Michael Miebach (Mastercard), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron), Dina Powell McCormick (Meta), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), Ryan McInerney (Visa), and Elon Musk (Tesla).
Elon Musk’s presence on the upcoming trip comes almost a year after his turbulent departure as a senior advisor at the White House. During his time with the Trump administration, Musk spearheaded a series of DOGE-related inquiries and uncovered shocking levels of alleged waste and fraud.
As reported by RSBN, President Trump’s visit to China is likely to center largely on trade relations between the two nations in a post-tariff landscape, with additional focus on the war with Iran, the expansion of artificial intelligence, and, potentially, discussions about the fentanyl and opioids still flowing into the U.S. from China.
This is the first meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping since 2025 in Busan, South Korea. It is also the first time the two leaders will meet following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down President Trump’s authority (under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act) to impose high tariffs on China.
Both the U.S. and China appear prepared to wield their respective economic weapons in this fight for trade dominance, particularly in the wake of President Trump’s harsh tariff policies enacted last year.
“Now it has become a hot stove approach: ‘We need to show that when the U.S. takes an action, they will touch a hot stove and get burned,’” Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, told the NYT of China’s approach to trade relations at this time.
