Americans from coast to coast face a financial crisis as Trump’s war drives up the cost of energy, but by his own words, the president couldn’t care less. Instead, he’s jetted off to China with some of the wealthiest executives on the planet for a state visit dripping with red carpets and backroom deal-making that promises to deliver for the powerful and leave everyone else behind.
Joining Trump in China was a combined personal fortune well over $1 trillion; a who’s who of American corporate power:
- Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has a net worth of approximately $831 billion and is the wealthiest person on the planet
- Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, has a net worth of over $203 billion, the seventh-richest individual in the world
- Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, is worth approximately $41 billion
- Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, is worth approximately $3 billion
- Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing more than $10 trillion, is worth approximately $1.3 billion
- Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology, is worth at least $850 million
- Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace, is worth at least $830 million
- David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, is worth at least $150 million
- Dina Powell McCormick, President of Meta, is worth an estimated $90–190 million
- Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa, is worth at least $90 million
- Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, is worth an estimated $50–120 million
- Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard, is worth at least $40 million
- Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, is worth at least $40million
- Kelly Ortberg, CEO of Boeing, is worth at least –$30 million
- Jacob Thaysen, CEO of Illumina, is worth at least $20 million
The delegation tells the whole story of who this trip is actually for:
- The CEO of Cargill flew to Beijing to protect Cargill’s margins, while the American farmers his company depends on are getting crushed by Trump’s trade war and fertilizer prices spiking.
- The CEO of Boeing secured his seat on Air Force One while the Americans who can no longer afford to fly this summer, with airline fares up more than 20% over the past year, were left to figure it out on their own.
- The CEO of Visa and the CEO of Mastercard were in the room where the deals get made, while their cardholders are watching inflation outpace their paychecks for the first time in three years.
- The heads of BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, who collectively oversee and manage the wealth of the ultra-rich, had direct access to the Chinese president, while working Americans, who have seen their purchasing power erode over the last year, got nothing.
“Donald Trump didn’t slip up when he said Americans’ financial pain doesn’t motivate him even a little bit. That was actually the most honest thing he has said in the last decade,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Brandon Weathersby. “He immediately showed his real priorities by inviting more than a trillion dollars’ worth of corporate titans on Air Force One to cut their very own portfolio padding business deals in China, all while families are forced to stretch every paycheck. This is the Trump economy in its purest form: the connected and the wealthy get everything, and everyone else gets nothing.”
Published: May 14, 2026 | Last Modified: May 20, 2026