U.S. CEOs seek China business gains from Trump-Xi summit

Published: 2026-05-12 14:29:23 ET TSLA

Published on 05/12/2026 at 02:29 pm EDT

STORY: It's a who's who of the business world heading to China with U.S. President Donald Trump this week as he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook and others will make the trip, according to a White House official.

Sources say the companies hope the summit will generate enough political goodwill to unlock regulatory approvals, market access and investment opportunities.

One of the sources said a critical precondition for companies to join the trip was having a (QUOTE) "tangible ask" that promised a concrete outcome or handshake deal during or after the summit.

None of the companies responded to requests for comment on their goals for outcomes from the summit.

In Musk's case, China is weighing curbs on exports of solar manufacturing equipment to the United States, which could threaten plans by Tesla to build new factories or expand existing ones to boost local production.

In March, Reuters reported that Tesla was looking to buy $2.9 billion of equipment for making solar panels from Chinese suppliers.

Tesla is also seeking Chinese regulatory clearance to expand the adoption of its Full Self-Driving assistance system in the world's largest auto market.

Boeing's CEO Kelly Ortberg told Reuters last month that the U.S. plane maker was counting on the Trump administration to help unlock a long-awaited major order from China.

China and Boeing have been in prolonged talks for a deal that industry sources say could include 500 737 MAX jets, plus dozens of widebody jets powered by GE engines.

One CEO not making the trip is Nvidia's Jensen Huang, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Huang was not invited, the source said, with the White House focusing more on agriculture and commercial aviation matters on the current trip.

Nvidia has been pushing the administration to allow it to sell some of its AI chips to Beijing.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.