Top CEOs and tech leaders have jumped at the chance to be in President Trump's good graces, a theme of the second administration that was on display in the State Dining room on Thursday night.

The president’s economic policies, between sweeping tariffs, instability at the Federal Reserve and unemployment ticking up, have led to headaches in the business community but it has also served as a major incentive for CEOs to get face time with Trump.

Aside from help navigating new global trade relations and the volatile stock market, top leaders also want a part of the boost in data center construction, artificial intelligence (AI) policy and a hand in pending antitrust cases.

“Sometimes it’s a bit of a circus but they feel like he hears them. In that sense, they feel like he compares more favorably,” a senior Washington lobbyist described. “It’s the only chance you get of getting something out of it. You have to kiss the ring, you have to show up. That’s just the way it is.”

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, and Apple CEO Tim Cook were part of a group of over two dozen high profile tech and business leaders who went to Thursday night’s event, during which Trump asked them to say how much their companies are investing in U.S. manufacturing.

Trump has sold his tariff plan, which has shaken up how companies operate and their bottom-lines, as a way to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. He pitches to companies that the way to not get hit with high tariffs is to produce at home.

At the dinner, Zuckerberg told Trump his company plans to........

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