--- title: Donald Trump: Meetings With CEOs Make Him Look Good description: President Trump likes to sit around tables with business leaders. canonical: https://time.com/4674846/president-trump-loves-roundtables-with-ceos-heres-why/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-17T16:29:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:24:22.040Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Loves Roundtables With CEOs. Here’s Why og:description: A trick he learned from Ronald Reagan. og:url: https://time.com/4674846/president-trump-loves-roundtables-with-ceos-heres-why/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte126bd5c9154fc56/6988ba1d656a3ffd16bcec33/trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: US-CANADA-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-TRUDEAU og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Loves Roundtables With CEOs. Here’s Why twitter:description: A trick he learned from Ronald Reagan. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte126bd5c9154fc56/6988ba1d656a3ffd16bcec33/trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Loves Roundtables With CEOs. Here’s Why > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4776d76c-e2ce-42f2-9c5a-ca2f2089e19b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 17, 2017 4:29 PM UTC  President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hold a roundtable discussion on women entrepreneurs and business leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2017. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hold a roundtable discussion on women entrepreneurs and business leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2017. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 17, 2017 4:29 PM UTC President Trump likes to sit around tables with business leaders. In the first few weeks of his Administration, the New York real estate mogul has met with the [CEOs of America’s 12 largest companies](http://www.businessinsider.com/business-leaders-trump-white-house-meeting-2017-1), [held a roundtable with female CEOs and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau](http://fortune.com/2017/02/13/ivanka-trump-women-justin-trudeau/), [had a discussion with retail CEOs](http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-retail-ceos-trump-meeting-20170215-story.html) and [chatted with airline CEOs](http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/02/07/white-house-says-airline-concerns-focus-us-jobs/97615160/). The meetings haven’t produced much in the way of policy news, but they have produced great visuals for the Trump Administration. Trump, in particular, likes to be seen as a business executive, and the visuals from these meetings help reinforce that image. Here’s a closer look at how the White House uses this tactic. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4674846/president-trump-loves-roundtables-with-ceos-heres-why/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4674846/president-trump-loves-roundtables-with-ceos-heres-why/"},"headline":"President Trump Loves Roundtables With CEOs. 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