Musk’s relationship with Trump has fueled expectations that he could soften U.S. policy toward Beijing, but experts caution against putting too much stock into the Tesla CEO.
Elon Musk’s relationship with Donald Trump has fueled expectations that he could soften the U.S. President-elect’s policy stance toward Beijing, but experts caution against putting too much stock into the Tesla CEO.
The billionaire was one of Trump’s top campaign donors and could reportedly get a cabinet or advisory role at the White House.
In the lead-up to the elections, their relationship had piqued Beijing’s interest due to Musk’s close ties to China, where his company, Tesla, runs a massive « gigafactory. »
« There has been widespread curiosity in China the past few months about whether Musk could be the new Kissinger, helping broker a deal between Washington and Beijing », said Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business & Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
« Whether this is an ingenious insight that will help keep relations from imploding or part of an unrealistic soothing scenario Chinese want to tell themselves is hard to know at this point », he added.
U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger, who passed away last year, is credited with normalizing relations between the U.S. and China, beginning with his first visit to Beijing in July 1971.
Kissinger was deeply respected in China and continued to meet with its leaders as an unofficial diplomat in efforts to promote warmer relations between the two countries. Just months before Kissinger died in November 2023, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in July 2023.
Hopes that Musk could fill the hole left by Kissinger have arisen as he increasingly engages with high-ranking officials in China, where he established Tesla as the country’s first wholly foreign-owned automaker in 2018.
