Musk's hilarious selfie fatigue as stream of Chinese business leaders flock to take photos with him during Trump's visit
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- May 15, 2026
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Elon Musk appeared visibly irritated and began pulling odd faces as he was mobbed by Chinese business leaders for photos in Beijing.
The SpaceX founder is among the dozens of top business leaders who travelled with Donald Trump to China this week.
The US president was in Beijing to develop his nation's relationship with Xi Jinping , the leader of China.
Footage of Musk at the state banquet on Wednesday showed the billionaire rolling his eyes and sighing exasperatedly as business leaders snapped photos of him from a distance.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun then approached Musk for a photo, to which Musk reluctantly agreed, posing with a strange, wink-like expression before immediately turning away to check his phone.
That same evening, the Tesla mogul was also seen posing with Apple CEO Tim Cook for a photo, in which he decided to pull a series of quirky faces.
He could also be seen grinning as he put two thumbs up.
But Musk's jokiness was not matched by Cook, who dropped his smile as soon as he began walking away from the photo-op.
Musk reluctantly agreed to a selfie with Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, posing with a strange, wink-like expression
That same evening, the Tesla mogul was also seen posing with Apple CEO Tim Cook for a photo, in which he decided to pull a series of quirky faces
Earlier, Musk was seen hand-in-hand with his son X Æ A-12, having taken him to an important meeting with China's leadership.
The boy, born to Musk and his then-girlfriend Grimes in 2020, was seen wearing a blue vest that appeared to have taken inspiration from Chinese culture over a white shirt.
He was also seen carrying what appeared to be a bag in the shape of a Chinese dragon mask.
Musk and Cook were among the 17 American CEOs accompanying Trump on his two-day state visit to Beijing.
The US President left Beijing earlier today after the whirlwind trip, where he boasted that 'fantastic trade deals' were made.
Angling to find common ground on trade, tariffs, Tehran and Taiwan, Trump is leaving with little to announce on the latter fronts.
Taiwan wasn't mentioned by the President throughout the entirety of the trip and how China could help with the Iran war is yet to be seen.
Still, his several meetings and tours with the Chinese President provided Trump with ample opportunity to level with Xi.
Trump lavished praise on his 'friend' Xi, calling him 'a great leader.' But Xi 'very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation,' Trump said, adding that the Chinese President was not talking about his tenure, but that of his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
'He was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100 percent correct,' Trump said in his only social media post on the Beijing trip.
It's not clear if Xi made the dig publicly or privately at one of the events this week, but at the top of his remarks Thursday the Chinese leader mused whether the US and China could avoid the 'Thucydides trap,' a theory that war could result when tensions arise between a rising power and a ruling power.
The Chinese leader struck a much less positive tone - noting in a readout 'I have agreed with President Trump on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability.'
'The two countries should expand exchanges and cooperation in areas such as the economy and trade, health, agriculture, tourism, people-to-people ties and law enforcement,' Xi added.
Looming over both countries is the 'Taiwan question' - regarding China's claim that Taiwan is Chinese territory and the US's position that Taiwan is independent.
President Donald Trump (right) shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (left) at the conclusion of his visit to Beijing. His final day was spent at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese Communist Party headquarters
President Donald Trump (center) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi before boarding Air Force One as he departed Beijing Friday afternoon
Xi said that is the 'most important issue in China-US relations,' that could lead to 'clashes and even conflict' if handled improperly.
'The US side must exercise extra caution in handling the Taiwan question,' Xi said. Complicating that matter is an $11 billion weapons package, the largest ever arms sale, for Taiwan that Trump approved in December. Though it has been approved, the weapons have yet to be delivered.
Trump did not address Taiwan during the visit - even when pressed on the matter when making a stop on Thursday to the Temple of Heaven. Instead, Trump pivoted and noted China's beauty.
His team did not address Taiwan at all in any readouts during the visit.
And Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity did not ask Trump about Taiwan during their Thursday sit-down.
On the economic front, Xi stated that China's door 'will only open wider' to US businesses.
Making good on that promise, China announced that it would purchase 200 new planes from Boeing, though it was far less than the expected 500 aircraft deal that had reportedly been under consideration.
Trump noted that progress was made on China-US discussions on the Iran war.
'We did discuss Iran,' Trump told reporters. 'We feel very similar about (how) we want it to end. We don't want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the straits open.'
As Iran's largest oil customer, China has closer ties with Tehran than the US and has a vested interest in ending the war and US blockade on Iranian goods.
'I just want to thank President Xi and all of his representatives, we're friends with all of them,' Trump said.
'And we'll be back, and I believe on September 24th or thereabouts President Xi's going to be coming to the United States and we will be reciprocal, like reciprocal trade the visit will be reciprocal.'
'I wanna end by saying thank you very much. It's been really a great couple of days.'
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Musk's hilarious selfie fatigue as stream of Chinese business leaders flock to take photos with him during Trump's visit
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