BEIJING/SHANGHAI, May 15 (Reuters) – With red carpet treatment, selfies and culinary diplomacy, America’s richest and most powerful executives – from Tesla’s Elon Musk to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang – sought to rekindle business ties with China this week at a leadership summit in Beijing.
But when US President Donald Trump left Beijing on Friday afternoon, there was little clarity about what the summit delivered to the business delegation traveling with him.
The presence of a group of some of the most powerful U.S. corporate leaders — representing companies including Apple, Meta, Boeing, Cargill and Goldman Sachs — underscores the importance of the Chinese market, even as political leaders navigate tense ties over trade, artificial intelligence and broader geopolitical tensions.
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Unlike the last US presidential visit to Beijing, at the beginning of Trump’s first term in 2017, which featured a larger delegation of company presidents and agreements and memorandums of understanding valued at US$250 billion, the aim of this visit was to generate political goodwill, analysts said.
“Beijing never approaches a leadership summit of this kind from a purely transactional perspective,” said Feng Chucheng, founder and partner of Hutong Research, a Beijing-based strategic consultancy. ‘I wouldn’t use the size of the deals to measure the outcome of the summit.’
‘Its top priority is to find a mutually agreed ‘floor’ for the bilateral relationship and ensure a set of safeguards to prevent uncontrolled and unexpected escalation.’
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Some executives plan to remain in China to continue meetings with officials after Trump’s departure, and business announcements could be revealed in the coming days.
What appears to have already been agreed upon – according to Trump’s comments, although an official announcement is pending – is the purchase of 200 Boeing jets.
While this counts as a concrete delivery, it is less than the 500 expected and below the 300 planes purchased during the 2017 visit.
A breakthrough also remained difficult for China to grant permission for the sale of Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chip, the H200, which has been cleared by the US for sale to some Chinese companies.
Asked repeatedly by Reuters about the signed agreements and progress in the impasse over the H200 chip, Huang responded this Friday only that ‘I love China, I had a lot of fun’.
The Nvidia chief executive was not initially included on a White House list, but joined the trip later after Trump picked him up in Alaska on his way to Beijing, sparking hope that the trip could produce results in his long-stalled efforts to sell the AI chip to China.
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Huang strolled through scenic areas of Beijing with his entourage on Friday, stopping to watch street performers and visiting a bar he had frequented on a previous trip to the capital.
“The summit is much more about the positive atmosphere than the results, or at least what China will officially recognize,” said Han Shen Lin, director of Shanghai-based US consulting firm The Asia Group.
However, if Beijing does not give Trump enough ‘wins’ to take home, the risk is that, in his disappointment, Trump will back down and let his more aggressive administration steer the bilateral relationship. This will undoubtedly lead us on the path of escalation.’
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