Did Tim Cook go to China with Trump?

U.S. executives from Apple, Tesla, Boeing and others accompanied Trump on a visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Apple CEO Tim Cook left his successor, John Ternus, to run the store during his return visit to China. But rather than representing Apple per se, Cook is one of a dozen high-ranking U.S. businessmen invited to join Trump on his trip.

Cook would not have traveled with Trump on Air Force One. However, according to the Wall Street Journalhe has now been photographed at China’s welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

He was also filmed on social media walking alongside Elon Musk and briefly greeting reporters.

Why Cook is in China

As Cook has already learned, refusing an invitation from Trump only creates problems for Apple. Beyond these political maneuvers, the White House reportedly claimed that the trip was intended to promote trade deals for all involved.

Therefore, Trump’s China summit should aim to discuss trade, exports, AI, but also the war with Iran. Alongside Cook, Trump brought with him:

• BlackRock, Larry Fink
• Blackstone, Stephen Schwarzman
• Boeing, Kelly Ortberg
• Cargill, Brian Sikes
• Citi, Jane Fraser
• Consistent, Jim Anderson
• GE Aerospace, Larry Culp
• Goldman Sachs, David Salomon
• Illumina, Jacob Thaysen
• Mastercard, Michael Miebach
• Meta, Dina Powell McCormick
• Micron, Sanjay Mehrotra
• Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon
• Visa, Ryan McInerney

The visit could also serve as mediation, because if Trump has had his own clashes with Elon Musk, so has Cook. Aside from the petty lawsuits over Grok and previous battles over satellite connectivity, it was reported in 2021 that Musk had wanted to replace Cook and become Apple CEO himself.

Likewise, a representative from Goldman Sachs was on the invitation list, and that company ultimately had an acrimonious relationship with Apple over the Apple Card.

However, Cook is here because of Trump. The incident in which his refusal to accompany Trump on a trip led to a punitive tariff increase would be just one of the occasions when Cook displeased Trump.

While there are few details about Cook’s misconduct in the White House, Trump himself says he helps Apple based on the CEO’s kindness. “He calls me,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, “I help him (but not always, because sometimes he will be too aggressive in his request!).”

On the other hand, there are many public examples of Cook working to appease Trump. On the president’s orders, Cook had dinner with the Saudi crown prince at the White House and with Trump himself in Tokyo.

Cook appears to have also met with the United Kingdom’s King Charles during the latter’s recent state visit to Trump.

Along with presenting Trump with a gold trophy, Cook also congratulated him at White House dinners. Cook also personally invested $1 million in Trump’s inauguration.

Likewise, Apple was among the companies that donated to the ballroom, which Trump said in 2025 would be entirely privately funded and cost around $300 million. As of May 2026, the cost was estimated at $1 billion and was to be paid by taxpayers.

The purpose of the visit to China

Undoubtedly, Tim Cook’s goal in participating in this new trip to China is to maintain relations between Apple and Trump as they are. But the official goal is to discuss trade deals and relations between the United States and China.

According to China’s Xinhua news agency, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the local government was willing to work with the United States “in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit.”

This is the first visit to China by a sitting US president in nine years. It is expected to last from May 13 to 15.