Musk, Rubio, Hegseth: Who are in Trump’s entourage to China?

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s entourage for his trip to China includes top administration officials, several of the country’s most powerful executives and members of the Trump family.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is travelling with Mr Trump, despite sanctions China imposed on him in 2020 over his comments about its human rights record.

Mr Pete Hegseth will be the first sitting defence secretary to visit China since Mr Jim Mattis made the trip in 2018.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is also in the entourage, after meeting with China’s vice-premier, He Lifeng, in South Korea before Mr Trump’s meetings with Mr Xi Jinping, China’s leader.

Mr Eric Trump, the president’s middle son, who runs the Trump Organization, the main family business, was part of the group greeted by a red carpet as he descended the stairs from Air Force One onto the tarmac in Beijing.

Next to him was Ms Lara Trump, his wife, and behind them was Mr Elon Musk, a former top adviser to President Trump who was among the many business leaders invited to attend, in an apparent sign that relations between the two men are friendlier than they were last year.

Mr Brett Ratner, a film producer and director, was also spotted by reporters on Air Force One and shared a picture on social media of a note welcoming him onto the plane. Mr Ratner directed Melania, Amazon’s documentary on first lady Melania Trump, a comeback for the filmmaker, who has faced allegations from women of sexual harassment and misconduct. Mr Ratner has denied those allegations. Attempts to reach Mr Ratner’s representatives were not immediately successful.

The summit, which could shape the next chapter in US-China relations, is set to begin on May 14. Mr Trump and Mr Xi are expected to discuss trade and investment, according to senior US officials, along with the war in Iran and other matters.

Here’s a look at some of those in Mr Trump’s entourage:

– Marco Rubio, secretary of state

– Pete Hegseth, defence secretary

– Scott Bessent, treasury secretary

– Tim Cook of Apple

– Larry Fink of BlackRock

– Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone

– Kelly Ortberg of Boeing

– Brian Sikes of Cargill

– Jane Fraser of Citi

– Jim Anderson of Coherent

– Larry Culp of GE Aerospace

– David Solomon of Goldman Sachs

– Jacob Thaysen of Illumina

– Michael Miebach of Mastercard

– Dina Powell McCormick of Meta

– Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron

– Jensen Huang of Nvidia

– Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm

– Elon Musk of Tesla

– Ryan McInerney of Visa

NYTIMES