By Callum Keown
Avengers, assemble!
President Donald Trump has put together an exclusive group of CEOs, representing the best the U.S. has to offer, to join his key summit with China's Xi Jinping. The list tells its own story about the U.S. economy and what's at stake in the coming days.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's late inclusion on Air Force One to China suggests that tech, and chips in particular may be a hot topic on the trip. The company is still prohibited from selling its most advanced chips to Chinese customers.
The sector is well represented with Micron's Sanjay Mehrotra and Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon also on board Air Force One, according to Trump's social media post from the plane. Mehrotra's presence may turn heads as China banned the use of Micron chips in critical infrastructure in 2023 through 2030.
Apple's Tim Cook is also making the trip -- the outgoing CEO was in Beijing just last month to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary and has developed a strong relationship with China. The presence of Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also interesting and adds to the emphasis on all things AI.
But the elite cohort features almost as many financial company CEOs. Citi's Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, BlackRock's Larry Fink and Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman were all name-dropped by Trump.
American's manufacturing muscle will also be flexed -- Boeing's Kelly Ortberg, GE Aerospace's Larry Culp are there too along with the CEO of private agricultural giant Cargill, Brian Sikes.
Visa CEO Ryan McInerney, Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, Coherent CEO Jim Anderson and Illumina CEO Jacob Thaysen are also heading to China, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump said he will be asking Xi to "'open up' China so that these brilliant people can work their magic," in his Truth Social post.
It's a good list to be on.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 13, 2026 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT)
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