President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will personally request Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease market restrictions for the top American executives accompanying him on the state visit to Beijing. In a post on Truth Social, Trump described Xi as “a Leader of extraordinary distinction” and said he would ask him to “open up” China so that “these brilliant people can work their magic.”
“In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request,” Trump wrote. “I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries!”
Beijing’s response came through foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, who told Reuters that China is ready to “expand cooperation, manage differences and inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world.” The statement did not directly address Trump’s appeal for market liberalization.
The trip follows a year-long trade war that saw U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods spike to 145 percent last year. The two nations agreed to a temporary pause on further escalation in November, setting the stage for this high-stakes summit.
Trump is traveling with a delegation of 20 top executives, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Also on the roster are BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Mastercard’s Michael Miebach, Visa’s Ryan McInerney, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, Cargill’s Brian Sikes, Cisco’s Chuck Robbins, Coherent’s Jim Anderson, GE’s Larry Culp, Illumina’s Jacob Thaysen, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, Micron’s Sanjay Mehrotra, and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon. Director Brett Ratner is also along to scout locations for “Rush Hour 4,” as previously reported.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent laid groundwork for the talks by meeting with Chinese counterparts in South Korea. State media agency Xinhua described those discussions as “candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges.”
Trump faces growing bipartisan pressure to raise human rights concerns with Xi. Lawmakers from both parties have urged the president to secure the release of media mogul Jimmy Lai and other political prisoners. Separately, top House Democrats have pressed Trump to approve a delayed $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan before his meeting with Xi, as covered by The World Signal.
