Elon Musk meets with a Chinese official as Trump begins his second term

Chinese vice president Han Zheng called on US companies to help boost trade between rival countries on Jan. 19, in a meeting in Washington with Elon Musk. Musk is the CEO of Tesla and will be a part of Trump’s new administration. Why it matters: This meeting took place just one day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as the President of the United States for his second term on Monday at the US Capitol. Han, who was the Chinese representative at Trump’s inauguration in January, also met with JD Vance and business leaders from US companies like FedEx and Visa during his visit, according to Bloomberg. Details: Han stated that China “welcomed US businesses including Tesla to seize the opportunities, share the fruit of China’s growth, and make new, greater contributions to closer trade and economic ties between China, and the United States,” Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday. Musk, the owner of social media platform X responded by saying that Tesla is ready to increase investment and cooperation in China, thus playing a positive part in strengthening US-China trading relations.

After the meeting, the billionaire complained on his platform X that TikTok was allowed to operate in America while X was banned in China. He called it an “unbalanced situation” and added that “something needed to change.”

• Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement on Monday, doubling down fossil fuels and reversing America’s contribution to climate policy and clean energy government promotion. His transition team is considering ways to stop supporting EVs and chargers, including eliminating the $7,500 tax credit offered by the Biden administration for consumer EV purchases . Jill Shen, a Shanghai-based technology journalist, is a reporter for

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