Elon Musk, Tim Cook to join US delegation discussing Taiwan arms sales
Washington: US President Donald Trump will be accompanied by a powerful delegation of American business leaders, including Elon Musk, on his visit to China this week as the two leaders prepare to discuss the sensitive issue of arms sales to Taiwan.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss will be joined by outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO David Solomon and Boeing chairman and CEO Kelly Ortberg, among others.
The list of 17 people, many of whom are billionaires, was confirmed by a White House official as Trump prepares to travel to Beijing tomorrow.
There are two women on the delegation: Dina Powell, president and vice president of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, and Jane Fraser, Trump’s former deputy national security adviser and CEO of Citigroup.
The United States and China are expected to formally announce a Trade and Investment Board during or after the summit and discuss additional agreements on sectors such as aviation, agriculture and energy.
The White House wants Beijing to agree to buy more soybeans and Boeing planes from American farmers. This follows the thaw in trade relations last year during a brief meeting in Busan, South Korea, where Trump agreed to lower tariffs and Xi relaxed export controls on rare earths.
While Trump wants to focus on business deals between the world’s two largest economies, the Beijing summit will also hold important discussions about the war in Iran and the status of Taiwan, which China has long claimed.
“This comes up all the time,” Trump said on Monday (US time), adding that he did not want to see aggression from Beijing similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I don’t want this to happen… We’re too far away. We’re 9,500 miles away, so [Xi] 67 miles. There is a little difference. “But there is a lot of support for Taiwan from Japan and countries in that region.”
Asked if he believed the United States should still sell arms to Taiwan, Trump said, “Well, I’ll have that discussion with President Xi. President Xi wants us not to do that, and I’ll have that discussion.”
There is speculation among foreign policy analysts that Trump may change U.S. policy on Taiwan or restrict arms sales as part of a grand bargain with Xi on trade and other issues.
But the Trump administration approved the largest-ever arms sale to Taiwan in December, worth US$11.1 billion ($15.3 billion); It’s a fact that a senior US official emphasized in a briefing call with reporters.
“This administration has approved more arms sales to Taiwan in its first year than the previous administration approved in all four years,” said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
They also emphasized that the US government wants Taiwan to increase its own defense spending. Its parliament approved the defense budget last week, but it was less than the total amount sought by the Taipei government.
“It’s disappointing that there are still some things left in the editing room that we believe need to be financed,” the US official said. “We would like to see the remainder of the original proposed package funded.”
The official also said that they expect US policy towards Taiwan to remain unchanged.
“The last few times they’ve interacted has been a point of contention. There hasn’t been any change in U.S. policy from those, and we don’t expect to see any change in U.S. policy going forward.”
Get notes directly from our foreign correspondents on events making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
