President Donald Trump is set to land in China this week, flanked by a powerful lineup of American business leaders including Elon Musk. This visit marks another chapter in Trump’s relentless push to fix a broken relationship with Beijing that has cost American workers for decades.
The White House confirmed Musk is fully on board for the journey after receiving a direct invitation. Musk has never hidden his respect for what China has built on the factory floor and in cutting-edge tech.
He’s called China “an amazing powerhouse of manufacturing.” Musk also said the country “understands very well that solar is the future.”
“More people should visit China,” he added.
Musk has singled out China’s space efforts as “very impressive” and pointed out that “China has many excellent companies in many industries.”
“Google will win the AI race in the West, China on Earth and SpaceX in space,” he said.
The full group heading over includes heavy names from across corporate America, per Bloomberg:Tim Cook from Apple, Larry Fink from BlackRock, and Kelly Ortberg from Boeing, just to name a few.
Some big players with major China exposure stayed off the list, including NVIDIA, Caterpillar, Microsoft, and Nike.
The administration has kept its selection process under wraps for now.
NVIDIA boss Jensen Huang openly said to CNBC that he would view an invitation as a privilege:
“If invited, it would be a privilege, it would be a great honor to represent the United States.”
Trade imbalances sit at the heart of these talks. Trump wants China to pour real money into American soil by buying more U.S. products and cutting into that deficit that has shipped prosperity overseas for far too long.
Trump’s approach puts muscle behind the slogan of putting America first. If this delegation extracts fresh investments and fairer market access, it will mark another victory for the forgotten men and women who built this country.
The proof will show up in reopened plants and growing paychecks back home.
