President 
Trump will be accompanied to Beijing this week by 17 top US executives, with Tesla and SpaceX chief 
Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook and BlackRock's Larry Fink leading a delegation that also includes representatives from Meta, Visa, JP Morgan, Boeing and Cargill. A White House official with knowledge of the plans told the BBC the 17-strong list was the official US delegation. The line-up tracked Trump's intent to discuss technology and trade alongside the headline diplomatic agenda, the Guardian reported.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was absent from the list. The omission was notable given Nvidia's central position in the US-China dispute over computer chips and artificial intelligence, the BBC reported. Huang told CNBC last week it would be a "privilege" to represent the US in China if invited. Cisco chairman Chuck Robbins had been invited but was unable to attend due to earnings, the BBC reported, citing a company spokeswoman.
Sanjay Mehrotra, chief executive of Micron Technology, was also on the trip. Beijing restricted the use of some Micron chips in critical infrastructure in 2023 on national security grounds, a decision the company said had negatively impacted its China business, the BBC reported. Semiconductors remain central to the US-China economic relationship despite ongoing tensions over technology and export controls.
The executives together represent a swath of US business interests spanning social media, consumer hardware, semiconductors, financial services and commercial manufacturing, the BBC reported. An Illumina spokeswoman said chief executive Jacob Thaysen was "honored to be part of the delegation" and hoped the trip would "strengthen relationships and shape the future of precision medicine." The guest list signalled Trump intended to "spread the gospel of American tech" in Beijing even as his administration kept advanced AI-chip export controls in place, the Guardian reported.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Xi Jinping. — JudgeMarket.
