US CEOs seek China business gains from Trump-Xi summit

Highlights:

• Some US CEOs look for China business gains from summit
• Mastercard, Visa aim to deepen footprint in Chinese market, sources say
• Meta, Tesla, BlackRock among those facing thorny issues in China

From Meta Platforms to Tesla and BlackRock, the US business delegation for President Donald Trump's summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week consists mainly of companies seeking to resolve business issues with the world's second-largest economy.

More than a dozen CEOs and top executives from companies such as Tesla, BlackRock, Illumina, Mastercard and Visa will accompany Trump on his visit on 14 and 15 May, a White House official said on Monday.

Unlike Trump's 2017 visit, which was heavy on pomp and trade deals, the scaled-back delegation this time includes companies seeking to advance long-standing business priorities in China, said two people familiar with the preparations who sought anonymity.

"Besides Boeing and Cargill being linked to purchase agreements, the others are mainly there to deliver demands on critical input supply," said Reva Goujon, a geopolitical strategist at Rhodium Group.

"This could help the US administration's messaging that to even be able to discuss a board of investment, China needs to be a reliable investment partner and not weaponise supply."

The US business delegation hopes the summit will generate enough political goodwill to unlock regulatory approvals, market access and investment opportunities, the sources said, as they face broader operational challenges in China beyond commercial dealmaking.

US gene-sequencing company Illumina said in a statement that its CEO Jacob Thaysen was honoured to be part of the US business delegation.

"This is an opportunity to strengthen relationships and shape the future of precision medicine," the company said, without elaborating.

The other companies did not respond to requests for comment on their goals for outcomes from the summit.

'Tangible ask'

A critical precondition for companies to join the trip was having a "tangible ask" that promised a concrete outcome or handshake deal during or after the summit, one of the sources said.

Another source cautioned that US firms viewed the summit less as a venue for formal announcements and more as a political opening that could help accelerate regulatory discussions already underway in China.

For example, Meta Platforms needs to tackle an order last month from China's powerful state planner to unwind its more than $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, as Beijing tightens scrutiny of US investment in domestic startups developing frontier technologies.

China is also weighing curbs on exports of solar manufacturing equipment to the United States, which could threaten plans by US firms such as Tesla to build new factories or expand existing ones to boost local production.

In March, Reuters reported that Tesla was looking to buy $2.9 billion of equipment for making solar panels from Chinese suppliers such as Suzhou Maxwell Technologies, which was seeking export approval from the commerce ministry.

Tesla is also seeking Chinese regulatory clearance to expand the adoption of its Full Self-Driving assistance system in the world's largest auto market.

Its CEO, Elon Musk, has previously acknowledged the difficulties stemming from tech curbs imposed by both US and Chinese authorities, but voiced optimism about receiving such an approval in China this year.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink also arrives in Beijing as a consortium led by the US asset manager faces scrutiny over a planned $23 billion acquisition of ports, including two near the Panama Canal, from Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison.

Beijing criticised the deal amid Washington's push to reduce Chinese influence over the strategic waterway.

Among tech companies in the delegation, optical components maker Coherent is navigating Beijing's export controls on indium and related materials critical for high-performance optical chips.

Illumina's participation comes as the company seeks to rebuild its business operation after Beijing lifted an export ban imposed on the company last year.

But it remains on China's "unreliable entity" list, forcing Chinese companies to seek government approval to purchase Illumina instruments, amid growing US-China tension over biotech security and supply-chain dependence.

Financial firms

Payment giants Mastercard and Visa are hoping to use the summit to improve their positions in China's tightly regulated payments market, according to the two sources.

One source familiar with the matter said Mastercard was hoping the US government would advocate for a higher stake in its joint venture in China.

In 2023, Mastercard became the first foreign payments network to receive approval to clear domestic yuan-denominated bank-card transactions in China, through a joint venture with local partner NetsUnion.

Another source said Visa, which has yet to obtain China's domestic bank-card clearing business like rivals Mastercard and Amex, hopes to break into the coveted market with an unprecedented 100% ownership stake of a future joint venture licence.

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon are also joining the trip as Wall Street firms keep up efforts to deepen access to China's capital markets.

Citi is still awaiting approval for a wholly owned securities brokerage licence in China after exiting a previous joint venture.

The bank also faces a dispute with fuel company Haiyue Energy Group, based in the eastern province of Zhejiang, which sued Citibank over the freezing of a $27 million payment linked to US sanctions.

China and the United States may reach a farm deal at the summit to expand Beijing's purchases of grains and meat, but market watchers do not expect major new soybean purchases beyond those agreed in a deal last October.