Donald Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday demanding Chinese President Xi Jinping “open up” the country to corporate America as he sought to put stronger business ties at the heart of his visit for a two-day summit.
The call from the US president, who is being accompanied to China by top executives, came ahead of meetings on Thursday and Friday clouded by geopolitical tensions over Iran and Taiwan and by conflict over trade and technology that has strained ties between the world’s largest economies.
Trump said his “very first request” to Xi would be to create a more favourable environment for top American companies, which have long complained of regulatory obstacles to their operations in China.
In a post on his Truth Social platform as he flew to China on Air Force One following a refuelling stop in Alaska, Trump listed top US business leaders who would be attending the summit, including key figures on Wall Street such as Blackstone chief Stephen Schwarzman and BlackRock’s Larry Fink, as well as Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX and Apple’s Tim Cook.
Trump also said that Jensen Huang, chief executive of chipmaker Nvidia, had joined him on the flight to Beijing in Alaska, after he was initially not expected to attend.
During their meetings in Beijing, the two leaders are expected to discuss additional Chinese purchases of US goods and other ways to ease trade friction between the countries.
Trump’s visit to China is his first international trip since he travelled to Davos, Switzerland in January, before the US launched its war with Israel against Iran.
