As a handful of America’s most powerful executives departed Beijing on May 14, the message was consistent: the summit went well. In a recent X post, @whyyoutouzhele claims that Elon Musk described it as “very good, very productive”. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, said talks were “very smooth” and that both leaders were “impressive”. Tim Cook offered an approving gesture when asked about the outcome.
The delegation that included Musk, Cook, and Huang along with President Donald Trump had been engaged in lengthy discussions with President Xi Jinping of China, trying to overcome all the trade tensions between the two nations in an attempt to give US tech firms access to Chinese markets.
The selection of corporate leaders was no accident. NVIDIA is in charge of the chips driving the worldwide AI revolution. Apple produces nearly 95% of its iPhone lineup in China, having investments valued at hundreds of billions.
For Tesla, another electric vehicle manufacturer owned by Musk, China is essential for growth. Both have massive financial interests in US-China relations, and both have suffered from the effects of their breakdown.
In 2022, under the presidency of Biden, export restrictions imposed on Nvidia resulted in a loss of up to $400 million in sales to China. By late 2025, Huang admitted that Nvidia had lost all of its market share in China, going from 95% to zero as Chinese companies Huawei and DeepSeek developed alternative products based on domestically produced chips.
The United States Trade Representative has granted multiple tariff exemptions to Apple through 2019 and 2025 because Cook appealed to them. The company achieved a recent victory when it avoided a 25 per cent iPhone tax that applied to phones not produced within the United States.
Musk’s connection with China experienced difficulties. The public doubted Tesla’s first entry into the market because the company faced operational challenges. The company succeeded in increasing its Chinese sales to three times their previous levels by 2016 because Chinese customers became its main source of income.
The White House outlined three core objectives: pressuring China to “open up” to American firms, addressing trade barriers, and establishing dialogue on AI development and geopolitical stability.
