We will talk about Taiwan and inevitably Iran, of course, as the crisis linked to Tehran’s partial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues. Even if he says pompously: “On Iran I don’t need help from China or NATO.” But we will mainly talk about business, investments and trade agreements in the long summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping scheduled in Beijing. Trump will be in China from today: a two-day official visit will begin tomorrow, until Friday 15 May. It is the first by a US president in China in the last 9 years: the last was by Trump himself, during his first term.
A business trip
Obviously the two leaders will talk to try to make relations between the two countries more stable, which have been quite turbulent in recent times (think of the issue of duties). But the real reason for the summit is easily understood by the delegation traveling to Beijing on Air Force One: a total of 16 CEOs of large companies are accompanying Trump. The president of the United States would be willing to discuss the creation of an investment board and a trade board with China. US officials have spoken of creating a “board of trade” to oversee imports and exports between the two countries, with political agreements on quotas and product categories.
“I will ask Xi to open China to US businesses”
“I will ask President Xi, a leader of extraordinary caliber, to ‘open’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic and help take the People’s Republic to an even higher level!”, Trump wrote on his Truth social network, also adding that the media reports on the absence of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang were wrong and that the chip magnate is now on Air Force One together with Elon Musk (Tesla), Tim Cook (Apple), Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Jane Fraser (Citi), Larry Culp (GE Aerospace), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron) and Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm).
And therefore the delegation accompanying the US president is made up of managers of companies active in a wide range of sectors. Let’s see who they are, in detail.
Who are the 16 CEOs in China with Trump
First of all there is Larry Fink: he is the president and CEO of BlackRock, a company he founded in 1988 together with seven other partners. It is a very wealthy multinational investment firm based in New York: it provides investment, advisory and risk management solutions to institutional and private clients globally. From energy to weapons, BlackRock also controls tens of billions of euros in assets of Italian banks and state subsidiaries in strategic sectors. We talked about it here.
There’s Tim Cook. CEO of Apple since August 2011 as successor to Steve Jobs, he is also a member of the board of directors. Before taking the reins of the company, Cook was responsible for Apple’s global sales and operations. Before joining the company, he held roles at Compaq, Intelligent Electronics and IBM.
Also present was Elon Musk, today leader of Tesla and SpaceX. An entrepreneur and innovator, he helped found seven different companies, including xAI. Already close to President Trump, for whom he headed the Department for Government Efficiency, he is considered by Forbes to be the richest man in the world with a fortune of 839 billion dollars.
Schwarzman, Ortberg and Sikes
Also in the delegation are Stephen Schwarzman and Kelly Ortberg. The first is the president and CEO of the Blackstone Group, a financial company he helped found in 1985. He is counted among the richest men in the world with a personal fortune which, according to Forbes, amounted to $53.3 billion in November 2024. The second has been president and CEO of The Boeing Company since August 2024. He began his professional career in 1983, as an engineer at Texas Instruments. He then moved to Rockwell Collins, where he held various roles until being appointed CEO of the company in 2013 and chairman from 2015 to 2018.
Brian Sikes will also be in Beijing. Since January 2023 he has been the CEO of Cargill, of which he also chairs the board of directors from the following year. He is the tenth person to hold the position of CEO in the 160-year history of the company, a US multinational mainly active in the food sector. Sikes began his career at Cargill in 1991, joining the management team in 2019.
Jane Fraser and Jim Anderson
In China, Jane Fraser and Jim Anderson are also at the top with Xi. Fraser chairs the board of directors and is CEO of Citi, one of the largest banks in the world: she became CEO in March 2021, after a career of over 20 years with the company. Since taking office he has launched a campaign to modernize the institute. Anderson became Coherent’s CEO and board member in June 2024. Coherent is an American semiconductor and optical materials company. Prior to his appointment, he built more than 25 years of experience in the technology and semiconductor industries, particularly in innovation-focused businesses.
Lawrence Culp, David Solomon and Jacob Thaysen
In the delegation is Lawrence Culp, member of the board of directors of GE Aeropsace in April 2018 and then CEO of GE. He then became chairman and CEO of GE Aerospace when the company became a public company in April 2024. It is an aerospace company headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, and is currently the largest aeroengine manufacturer in the world. Its production covers the supplies of most commercial aircraft.
Also present were David Solomon and Jacob Thaysen. The first is chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks in the world. He was previously at the helm of the Investment banking division from July 2006 to December 2016. Thaysen, on the other hand, is the CEO of Illumina, a world-leading biotechnology company, specialized in the development, production and marketing of integrated systems for genetic analysis.
Miebach, McCormick, Mehrotra, Amon and Ryan McInerney
Also on Air Force One are Michael Miebach, member of the board of directors and CEO of MasterCard, and Dina Powell McCormick, president and vice-chairman of Meta. Before joining Mark Zuckerberg’s company, the latter worked for Goldman Sachs. He also had roles in the presidential administrations of Donald Trump and Bush Jr..
Closing the delegation is a trio of CEOs: Sanjay Mehrotra, Cristiano Amon and Ryan McInerney. McInerney has been CEO of Visa since February 2023, which he joined in June 2013. Prior to becoming CEO, he was president of the company and responsible for Visa’s global development. He previously served as CEO of consumer banking for JPMorgan Chase. Amon has been president and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated since June 30, 2021: it is an American telecommunications research and development company headquartered in San Diego, California. Mehrotra is the president and CEO of Micron Technology, a multinational company that produces various types of semiconductor devices.