US President Donald Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday, accompanied by a high-level delegation of senior officials and CEOs ahead of a crucial summit with China’s leader Xi Jinping.
Upon his arrival, Trump received a pomp-filled welcome, with a red carpet rolled out before him and hundreds of Chinese children waving American and Chinese flags and chanting. He was greeted by a welcome delegation led by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng.
Trump is traveling along with a circle of close aides, business leaders, and family members, according to CNN. This includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will join them, arriving from Seoul after holding trade talks with Chinese counterpart.
The delegation also includes the US President’s son, Eric Trump, and daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.
Chinese students greet President Trump with a flag-waving ceremony upon his arrival in Beijing.
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Business leaders joining Trump include Apple’s Tim Cook, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, as well as executives from Blackrock, Blackstone, Cargill, Citi, Coherent, GE Aerospace, Goldman Sachs, Illumina, Mastercard, Micron, Qualcomm, and Visa.
Moreover, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang boarded Air Force One while refueling in Alaska after receiving a last minute invitation, Reuters reported citing a source familiar with the matter.
Trump said that he will ask President Xi to “open up” China to US businesses. “I will make that my very first request,” he posted on Truth Social.
In response, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun expressed Beijing’s readiness to “expand cooperation, manage differences and inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world.”
Trump will hold a series of meetings with Xi on Thursday and Friday. In addition to trade, their talks will focus on the war in Iran and US arms sales to Taiwan – which China strongly opposes.
