Chinese President Xi Jinping warmly welcomed a delegation of US CEOs on Thursday during the first day of President Trump’s visit to the country.
The business leaders were on hand for an arrival ceremony and a portion of a bilateral meeting held in China’s Great Hall of the People, where Trump proceeded to introduce them to Xi “one by one,” according to Chinese state media.
Xi reportedly responded to US desires to do more business in China by saying the companies could be “deeply involved in China’s reform and opening up” and that “China’s door will only open wider.”
The outreach received a positive reaction from the CEOs with Tesla’s (TSLA) Elon Musk, Nvidia’s (NVDA) Jensen Huang, and Apple’s (AAPL) Tim Cook all spotted by reporters leaving in good spirits.
“It was awesome,” Musk said when asked how his talks with Xi went.
Xi has offered similar promises in years past — often to little avail — but it was nonetheless a striking message from the Chinese leader to begin the two-day visit and echoed a message Trump himself has been delivering ahead of the trip.
“I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic,” Trump posted to social media en route to China.
A White House official confirmed many elements of the Chinese account in a summary of Thursday’s meeting, offering that the leaders “discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation between our two countries, including expanding market access for American businesses.”
But the upbeat tone of this CEO outreach came as other issues, like the war in Iran and the status of Taiwan, hung over the gathering.
China’s approach to US businesses in recent years has left many US companies deeply wary of doing business in China amid intense government restrictions. US companies face an array of issues ranging from intellectual property theft to forced technology transfers to regulatory enforcement that places severe restrictions on any business operating in the country.
It was also unclear after the first hours of the visit whether progress would be made on trade, with the White House apparently set to announce a new US-China “board of trade” to manage disputes. However, it remained unclear whether the US and China would make progress on extending a truce set to expire this fall across a range of issues, including tariffs and rare earth minerals.
These promises of a newly opened China also came in the face of low expectations for the trip overall heading into the meeting.
