Trump Flew to Beijing With Elon Musk and Tim Cook — Here Is What America Is Actually Getting

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Donald Trump just boarded Air Force One and he did not go alone. He brought Elon Musk. He brought Tim Cook. He brought Jensen Hang of Nvidia, Larry Frink of Black Rockck, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Kelly Ortberg of Boeing, Jane Fraser of Croup, Steven Schwarzman of Blackstone, and more than a dozen of the most powerful business executives on the planet. The man who called China an enemy, who launched the most aggressive trade war in modern history, who slapped 145% tariffs on Chinese goods and threatened to decouple the two largest economies on Earth, just flew to Beijing with the entire American corporate establishment sitting behind him on Air Force One. And the question that 130 million American workers, millions of American farmers, and every family paying elevated prices for gas and groceries is asking right now is devastatingly simple. Will this summit actually make my life better? Will prices go down? Will jobs come back?

[00:00:56]Will the deal Trump makes in Beijing over the next two days actually change anything for ordinary Americans?

[00:01:02]Professor Dominion is going to answer that question honestly. And the answer is far more complicated than anything the White House is telling you. Let me take you inside the most consequential trade summit in a generation. Because what is happening in Beijing on May 14th and 15th is not just a diplomatic meeting between two powerful men. It is a negotiation over the economic future of the United States of America. The jobs that exist in American factories, the prices that Americans pay for everything from cars to smartphones to medicines, the supply chains that deliver goods to American stores, the energy that powers American homes. All of it is connected to what happens when Trump sits across from Xiinping in the Great Hall of the People. And the world's most powerful CEOs did not fly to Beijing as passengers. They flew there as the real negotiating team. The men and women whose companies define the actual economic relationship between America and China, whose factories employ millions of workers, whose supply chains connect the two economies in ways that decades of political speeches have failed to untangle. To understand what is actually at stake in these trade negotiations, you need to understand the full history of how America and China got to this moment. Because this summit did not emerge from nowhere. It is the product of decades of economic integration, years of growing competition and two years of the most aggressive trade confrontation in modern history. Let us go back to the beginning. When China joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001, American politicians and business leaders celebrated. The theory was elegant and optimistic. Open China up to global trade. Let American companies sell to Chinese consumers. Let Chinese factories produce goods cheaply for American consumers. Both countries benefit. the global economy grows and economic integration creates political stability. That theory, which dominated American foreign policy thinking for 20 years, produced something the theorists did not fully anticipate. It produced the hollowing out of American manufacturing. It produced the closure of over 60,000 American factories between 2001 and 2020. It produced a loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs, concentrated in exactly the kinds of communities that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024 and that are now desperate for someone to fix what globalization broke. The steel towns of Pennsylvania, the autotowns of Michigan, the furniture towns of North Carolina, the textile towns of South Carolina. These communities did not lose their economic foundations because of bad luck or technological change alone. They lost them because Chinese factories subsidized by the Chinese state could produce the same goods at a fraction of the price. And American trade policy for two decades allowed that process to continue unchecked. Trump came to power in 2016, promising to fix this. His first term produced the phase 1 trade deal with China in January 2020. China promised to buy $200 billion of additional American goods over two years, agricultural products, manufactured goods, energy, technology.

[00:03:55]The deal was supposed to rebalance the trade relationship to give American farmers and manufacturers the Chinese market access they had been demanding for decades. China never fully implemented it. The structural imbalances that phase 1 was supposed to fix remained completely intact and Trump came back to power in 2025 determined to go further, harder, more aggressively than before. He imposed tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods. China retaliated with 125% tariffs on American products. The trade war pushed tariffs past 140% on both sides. And for a moment, the decoupling that Trump had always talked about seemed like it might actually be happening. But here is what actually happened underneath all the rhetoric and the tariff announcements. In the first two months of 2026, China's exports grew by 21.8% yearonear, reflecting a reorientation toward non US markets that helped cushion the impact of declining trade with the United States. China did not collapse under the weight of American tariffs. China redirected. It found new markets in Southeast Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Middle East. It accelerated its domestic consumption strategy. It pushed its manufacturing base up the value chain into electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries, semiconductors, and it wielded the one weapon that America had no answer for, rare earth minerals. When she threatened to restrict rare earth flows in April and October 2025, Trump folded rather than credibly threaten escalation. That is not a characterization from a China friendly analyst. That is the assessment of the Council on Foreign Relations, America's most prestigious foreign policy institution, saying plainly that Trump blinked when China threatened to cut off the materials that American factories, American weapons systems, and American technology depends on. Now, let us talk about who is actually on this plane to Beijing because the composition of Trump's delegation tells you everything about what America genuinely needs from this summit. The delegation includes Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Jensen Hang of Nvidia, Kelly Ortberg of Boeing, Larry Frink of Black Rockck, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Jane Fraser of Croup, Steven Schwarzman of Blackstone, Cristiano Aman of Qualcomm, Sanjay Meotra of Micron, and more than a dozen other senior corporate leaders. Every single one of these executives has a direct and enormous financial stake in the outcome of this summit. Let me go through each of them and tell you exactly what they need from Beijing.

[00:06:21]Elon Musk, Tesla's most important manufacturing facility outside the United States is its Shanghai Gigafactory. It produces hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles per year for both the Chinese market and for export to Europe and other markets.

[00:06:34]Tesla's Shanghai operations are fundamental to the company's global business model. Musk cannot afford a breakdown in US China trade relations.

[00:06:41]He needs China to keep Tesla's Shanghai factory operating to keep the supply chains that feed it functioning and to maintain market access for Tesla vehicles in the world's largest electric vehicle market. The fact that Musk is on this plane is not a coincidence and it is not a favor to Trump. It is a statement about how much Tesla depends on the outcome of this summit. Tim Cook.

[00:07:01]Apple manufactures the vast majority of its iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and AirPods in China through its supply chain partners led by Foxcon.

[00:07:09]Approximately 90% of Apple's products are assembled in China. Cook has spent his entire tenure as Apple's CEO building and defending that supply chain. He has invested billions in Chinese manufacturing capacity. He has met with Chinese government officials dozens of times. He has navigated trade wars and political tensions with extraordinary diplomatic skill. This Beijing trip is expected to be his final major diplomatic effort as CEO before his retirement on September 1st when he hands leadership to John Turnis. Cook is flying to Beijing for the last time as Apple's CEO to try to protect the supply chain he built over a decade. The stakes for Apple and for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who use Apple products could not be higher.

[00:07:48]Jensen Hang of Nvidia. This is perhaps the most geopolitically explosive presence on the entire plane. Nvidia makes the most advanced artificial intelligence chips in the world. the H100 and H200 and Blackwell series of AI accelerators that are powering the global artificial intelligence revolution. China wants them desperately. American export controls, which have been progressively tightened since 2022, have blocked China from accessing Nvidia's most advanced chips.

[00:08:12]China has been building domestic alternatives but remains years behind Nvidia's capabilities. Jensen Huang had previously been reported as not participating in the trip, but apparently joined the delegation at the last minute. his lastminute addition to the plane is one of the most significant signals from this entire summit. It suggests that AI chip access, the export controls that block China from buying Nvidia's most advanced products may be on the negotiating table in Beijing. And if Trump offers China relaxed access to Nvidia chips in exchange for trade concession, the implications for American national security, American technological advantage, and the global AI race would be profound and potentially irreversible. Kelly Ortberg of Boeing. Ortberg said on an earnings call just last month that China could soon place an order for a big number of planes, breaking a year'slong drought for the US aircraft giant after Chinese purchases shifted to rival Airbus.

[00:09:05]Boeing has been in crisis for years. The 737 Max disasters, the production quality scandals, the regulatory battles, the labor disputes. The company that was once the crown jewel of American manufacturing has been battered so severely that its survival as a dominant global aerospace company is genuinely in question. A major Chinese aircraft order potentially for 500 Boeing planes according to analysis from the World Economic Forum would be worth tens of billions of dollars to Boeing.

[00:09:32]It would save thousands of American manufacturing jobs in Washington state and South Carolina and across Boeing's entire supply chain. It would be the single most tangible economic benefit that ordinary Americans could see and feel from this summit. And it depends entirely on Cinping deciding to buy American rather than European. Larry Frink of Black Rockck and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs and Jane Fraser of Croup represent the Wall Street dimension of this delegation. American financial institutions have enormous exposure to Chinese markets and Chinese capital flows. Black Rockck manages investments worth trillions of dollars globally. Goldman Sachs and Croup have major operations in China and significant exposure to Chinese corporate clients. All three institutions need the bilateral financial relationship to remain stable, open, and predictable. And all three CEOs flew to Beijing because they understand that without a stable USChina relationship, their businesses face enormous risk. Now, let us talk about what Trump is actually going to ask for in these negotiations because the White House has been very deliberate about framing this summit as primarily about trade, about business deals, about economic outcomes for ordinary Americans. Trump told reporters directly that trade will be the chief topic of discussion. He is downplaying Iran. He is downplaying Taiwan. He is presenting this as a businessman going to Beijing to cut deals for the American people.

[00:10:56]The White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told reporters that Trump's chief goal is to continue rebalancing the relationship with China and prioritizing reciprocity and fairness to restore American economic independence. The specific deliverables that the Trump administration is targeting are well defined. The US is pushing for continued access to critical and rare earth minerals alongside large-scale commercial agreements. This includes a potential Chinese purchase of 500 Boeing aircraft and sustained Chinese imports of US agricultural products. The White House has confirmed that discussions will cover the creation of a bilateral board of trade to identify nonsensitive sectors for purchase commitments and limited tariff adjustments alongside a parallel board of investment to provide a government-to-government forum for investment related issues. Agreements on industry spanning aerospace, agriculture, and energy are also expected. But here is the critical question that every American watching this summit needs to ask. Will these deals actually bring prices down? Will they actually bring jobs back from China? Because the history of USChina trade agreements is not encouraging on this front. The phase 1 deal of 2020 promised $200 billion of Chinese purchases. China did not deliver. The Busousan summit of October 2025 reduced tariffs and promised stability. Yet Chinese exports to the US continued to fall. The structural problem, the fundamental asymmetry between China's state-directed economy and America's market economy does not get fixed by a trade deal announcement at a press conference. China buys American soybeans when it needs them. It builds its own alternatives when it can, and it uses every trade concession America offers as a breathing space to consolidate its own technological and industrial position.

[00:12:37]The Council on Foreign Relations assessment of this summit is direct and sobering. Beijing's aim is to buy more time to consolidate its technological and industrial position and reignite its faltering economy. The US aim is probably to secure symbolic winds rather than more meaningful structural reforms to China's economic model. Beijing is probably willing to buy Boeing aircraft and American soybeans for stability. But those purchases are tactical, not strategic. They are designed to give Trump something to announce at a press conference while China continues building the industrial capabilities that will define the balance of economic power for the next 50 years. The Brookings Institutions Kyle Chan said Trump and she want to reconfirm their relationship and have stability. All the other stuff is gravy. In other words, do not expect a transformative deal. Expect a stabilization. Expect a photo opportunity. Expect announcements that will look impressive in headlines but will not fundamentally change the economic dynamics that have been building for decades and outside observers should have low expectations for the upcoming summit. According to Brookings, while the relationship has stabilized since the two leaders met in Busousan last November, it remains fragile, defined more by an absence of friction than any affirmative agenda or deep dialogue on the substantial differences that divide the two countries. Many Chinese analysts expect the US to snap back to a more competitive China policy either after the midterms or after Trump steps down in 2029. Beijing is focused on using this period to enhance its strategic position and the lesson of five decades of American presidents visiting Beijing is consistent. Nice photographs do not guarantee strategic outcomes. Neither do the big ticket sales of airplanes and soybeans. The better indicators are much duller. Did the summit create a schedule for future leader contact? Did it restore military communications? Did it deepen working level contacts on issues that actually matter for long-term stability? Now, let us talk about the hidden dangers in this summit that the White House is deliberately downplaying.

[00:14:35]Because there are two issues that could produce outcomes far more consequential than any Boeing order or soybean purchase. And both of them represent genuine risks to American national security and American credibility that need to be understood. The first is Taiwan. China experts say Beijing is absolutely focused on any kind of language shift on Taiwan from Trump.

[00:14:55]There have been serious fears in Washington that Trump would make some kind of comment or agree to a language change on how the US describes Taiwan status in the context of pressuring Beijing for trade concessions. She could try to trade the economic commitments Trump prioritizes, such as a pledge to keep critical minerals and rare earths flowing, commodity purchases, and potentially even Chinese investments in the United States for Taiwan related concessions. A senior Taiwanese official told Bloomberg directly, "What we are most afraid of is to put Taiwan on the menu of the talk between Xiinping and President Trump. That fear is real and it is wellfounded. America has maintained a consistent and carefully calibrated position on Taiwan for decades. Any shift in that language, even a seemingly minor shift of a single word or phrase, would be read in Beijing as an American retreat. It would be read in Taipei as an American abandonment, and it would be read in Tokyo, Seoul, and CRA as a signal that American security commitments in the Indo-acific are negotiable. The consequences of such a shift would outlast any trade deal by decades. The second hidden danger is artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology. AI is on the agenda. Jensen Hang of Nvidia is on the plane. And the question of whether America relaxes export controls on advanced AI chips in exchange for Chinese trade concessions is perhaps the single most consequential technology policy decision of this decade. American export controls have kept China's AI development behind American capabilities by years. Nvidia's most advanced chips are the engine of the global AI revolution. If Trump offers China access to those chips as a bargaining chip for trade concessions, the strategic technology gap that America has spent billions of dollars in years of policy effort to maintain begins closing. And once that gap closes, once China's AI capabilities reach parody with America's, it cannot simply be reopened by reinstating export controls. The technology will have transferred. The capability will have been built and the strategic advantage will be gone. Now, let me give you three scenarios for what ordinary Americans actually get from this summit and what it means for their daily lives. Scenario one, the deals are real and Americans eventually feel them.

[00:17:04]China places a firm order for 500 Boeing aircraft. The contracts are signed with genuine delivery commitments, not just letters of intent or options that can be cancelled. Chinese purchases of American soybeans resume at scale, giving real relief to the American farm belt that has been devastated by years of trade war. The rare earth export licenses are extended for 3 years, giving American manufacturers the supply chain security they desperately need to plan for the future. The board of trade creates a genuine framework for managing bilateral disputes that reduces the uncertainty that has been paralyzing American business investment. Gas prices get modest relief as China uses its influence to help push Iran toward a genuine reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. American consumers do not feel immediate dramatic relief at the gas pump or at the checkout. These things take months to work through the system, but the direction of travel is positive and Trump has real and tangible achievements to campaign on before November. This is the best case scenario and it requires China to actually implement what it announces which as the history of every previous US China trade deal shows is never guaranteed. Scenario two, the announcements are enormous but the delivery is empty. She and Trump stand at podiums in the great hall of the people and announce Chinese purchases of Boeing aircraft worth $50 billion, American soybeans, agricultural products, energy commitments. The numbers are staggering. Trump calls it the greatest trade deal in the history of the world. The markets get a massive relief rally. American farmers get hopeful. Boeing's stock surges. Wall Street celebrates. And then slowly over the months that follow, the implementation falls short. The Boeing order turns out to be for options, not firm contracts. The soybean purchases are smaller than announced and frontloaded to generate headlines before the midterms. The board of trade meets twice and then produces nothing actionable. The rare earth licenses are extended for 90 days, not three years, to keeping China's leverage over American manufacturing perfectly intact for the next negotiating round. And by the time American voters go to the November midterms, the promises made in Beijing have not translated into lower prices at the grocery store, more jobs in the factory towns of Pennsylvania and Michigan, or any genuine relief from the economic pressures that are making daily life harder for tens of millions of Americans. This is the historical pattern. It has happened before. The 2017 summit produced $250 billion in announced deals. Most were never implemented. The 2020 phase 1 deal promised 200 billion in Chinese purchases. China fell dramatically short. Scenario three. Taiwan gets traded away and America does not fully understand what happened until it is too late. Under intense pressure to deliver a headline achievement from Beijing under the political weight of midterm election 6 months away. Under the economic pressure of a hormuz crisis that is draining the American economy every day it continues. Trump makes a concession on Taiwan language that seems minor in the moment. He uses slightly different words than every previous American president has used to describe America's Taiwan policy. The White House frames it as a pragmatic diplomatic gesture, a small adjustment to facilitate cooperation on trade and Iran. China's state media frames it as a historic American commitment to the one China principle and the ripple effects start immediately. Japan's defense ministry enters emergency consultations.

[00:20:26]South Korea's government calls Washington demanding clarification.

[00:20:29]Taiwan's president issues a public statement asking what happened to the assurances America gave. American allies across the Indoacific start quietly hedging their security commitments.

[00:20:39]Wondering whether Washington's promises mean what they always said they meant.

[00:20:43]And China, which secured the single biggest diplomatic concession on Taiwan in 50 years without firing a single shot, uses it as the foundation for increasing pressure on Taipei in ways that could ultimately lead to the most dangerous confrontation in the Taiwan Strait in 30 years. That is not a hypothetical scenario. That is the direction the Council on Foreign Relations explicitly warned about when it said she could attempt to trade economic commitments Trump prioritizes for Taiwan related concessions. Here is my honest final conclusion for every American watching this summit. The deals that Trump announces in Beijing will be real in the sense that they will be announced with great fanfare. Boeing will probably get an aircraft order.

[00:21:23]American farmers will probably get a soybean purchase commitment. The Board of Trade will probably be established with a splashy ceremony. And Trump will return to Washington and call it the greatest trade deal in the history of the world. But the question you need to ask is not whether the announcements sound impressive. The question is whether the implementation will be real.

[00:21:41]Whether the jobs will actually come back to the factory towns that lost them.

[00:21:44]Whether the prices at the grocery store and the gas pump will actually go down in ways that ordinary families feel in their daily lives. Whether the supply chains that were broken by years of trade war will be rebuilt in ways that give American workers genuine long-term security. And on those questions, the experts who have spent their careers studying this relationship give a consistent answer. Scott Kennedy of CSIS said the meeting most likely will solidify the advantages China has gained over the past year. The Council on Foreign Relations said the result has been an uneasy dant favoring Beijing and the lesson of five decades of American presidents going to China is always the same. The photographs are spectacular.

[00:22:25]The announcements are enormous and the strategic fundamentals of the relationship. The underlying competition for technological dominance, for manufacturing supremacy, for geopolitical influence changed very slowly and always in the direction that the more patient power has been building toward for years. America went to Beijing. China was ready. The question is whether America got what it needed or whether it got what it was given.

[00:22:51]Subscribe to this channel right now and turn on notifications because what comes out of Beijing on May 15th will be the most analyzed and debated set of trade announcements in years. And I am going to break down every single outcome for you the moment it is announced. I want your answer in the comments right now.

[00:23:07]One question only. When Trump lands back in America from Beijing and holds his press conference calling it the greatest deal ever, will ordinary Americans actually feel any difference in their daily lives six months later? Tell me below.