President Trump touched down in Beijing on May 12, 2026, ahead of a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping scheduled for May 14-15 — the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders in six months.
Traveling with Trump is the most commercially visible CEO delegation of his presidency: Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Larry Fink of BlackRock, and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, whose company is reportedly seeking a 500-jet order that would be the largest commercial aviation deal in Chinese aviation history.
What happened
Trump's Air Force One landed at Beijing Capital International Airport on May 12, per CNBC's live coverage. Formal summit sessions are scheduled for May 14 and May 15. Al Jazeera reported that the agenda covers trade tariffs, the Taiwan Strait, Iran diplomacy and technology export controls — a set of issues that together touch most of the S&P 500's largest names. The Washington Post reported on May 11 that White House aides framed the visit as an attempt to build a durable bilateral framework rather than reach only transactional deals, though markets are watching the Boeing order and any tariff-truce language most closely.
Why it matters
A credible trade breakthrough could unlock Boeing's single largest export opportunity, ease Apple's China manufacturing exposure, and allow Fink to accelerate BlackRock's onshore Chinese asset-management ambitions. The flip side is that failure on Taiwan language or Iran coordination could harden tensions and extend the technology export restrictions that have already crimped Nvidia and other chip names.
Market impact
BA rose in pre-market trading on May 12 on reports that Ortberg brought a concrete 500-jet offer sheet. AAPL and TSLA, both heavily dependent on Chinese manufacturing and consumers, traded cautiously positive. FXI