US President Donald Trump (C) is greeted by China’s Vice President Han Zheng as SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R) looks on at Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing on May 13, 2026. <\/p>\n
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump has landed in Beijing, accompanied by a high-profile group of American CEOs, setting the stage for crucial meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid escalating geopolitical and economic tensions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Markets across Asia-Pacific are watching closely for any breakthroughs on trade, technology, and regional security.<\/p>\n
Enjoy!<\/p>\n
What you need to know today<\/p>\n President Trump was received on the tarmac in China by a brass band and flag-wavers, who performed as he descended the steps of Air Force One.<\/p>\n The President is being accompanied on the trip by a group of executives<\/a> from some of America’s most valuable companies, including Tesla<\/a> CEO Elon Musk<\/a> and Nvidia<\/a> CEO Jensen Huang.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump and Xi are expected to cover tariffs, rare earths, artificial intelligence, the Iran war and Taiwan. Experts anticipate that they may announce large Chinese orders for American planes and soybeans when the meetings conclude.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Thursday in the leadup to the meeting. In the U.S., futures were little changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500<\/a> rose to a new all-time high as traders’ enthusiasm for the technology trade overshadowed another hotter-than-expected inflation report<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n U.S. wholesale inflation data delivered a fresh jolt on Wednesday, with prices surging<\/a> 6% year-over-year in April, the sharpest annual gain since 2022. The hotter-than-expected reading adds pressure on Federal Reserve leadership and complicates the economic backdrop as Trump engages in high-level diplomacy.<\/p>\n In a key development for U.S. monetary policy, Kevin Warsh has secured Senate confirmation<\/a> as the next chair of the Fed. His leadership will be immediately tested by sticky inflation and potential rate implications from global energy shocks.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has continued to hurt global oil flows<\/a>, with OPEC reporting a 30% since the start of the Iran war in late February. It also warned of significant risks to demand growth this year. <\/p>\n \u2014 Dylan Butts\u00a0<\/p>\n And finally…<\/p>\n Japan’s global defense business may be on the cusp of a big breakout<\/a><\/p>\n Japan easing decades-old restrictions on arms exports opens a big opportunity for the country’s defense industry in a world increasingly hungry for weapons.<\/p>\n The global conditions seem favorable. On April 27, SIPRI reported that global military spending hit a record<\/a> of $2.89 trillion in 2025, the 11th straight year of increase.<\/p>\n Countries are “desperate” to acquire weapons such as air defense missiles, artillery shells and armored vehicles, areas where Japan Inc. might expand its market share in the international defense economy, Hirohito Ogi, senior research fellow at the Tokyo-based Institute of Geoeconomics, told CNBC in an interview.<\/p>\n \u2014 Lim Hui Jie<\/p>\n