Gavekal Technologies

Seventeen CEOs are in Donald Trump’s entourage for his summit meeting in Beijing this week. The heavyweight corporate presence—which includes Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Tim Cook, Larry Fink and Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg—underscores that the White House hopes to score high-profile commercial commitments that Trump can position as wins for US business. The CEOs arrive with a long list of asks, from greater market access, business licenses in restricted areas, more certainty on supplies of key inputs like rare earths and magnets, and removal or reduction of regulatory penalties. Huang’s last-minute addition to the trip indicates that export controls are not part of Washington’s agenda. If the talks go well, one likely outcome is China would allow limited imports of Nvidia’s H200 chips to show its attitude of market openness while meeting the country’s surging demand for AI compute.

Beijing hosted the world’s biggest-ever auto show in late April. The expo confirmed that Chinese electric-vehicle makers are cementing their grip on the EV technology stack, from batteries to automated driving systems to manufacturing processes. As a result, foreign brands are shifting to all-Chinese component systems to stay competitive. The top Chinese brands are also leading a slow rationalization of the domestic market. But consolidation will be an agonizing process: several years of cutthroat competition and elusive profits lie ahead.