Xi to take large CEO delegation to Washington summit
Xi Jinping plans a large business delegation for his September 24 Washington visit, aiming to signal openness to US investment despite regulatory and geopolitical tensions.
President Xi Jinping is preparing to bring a sizable contingent of Chinese business leaders to Washington for his September 24 summit with President Donald Trump, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The move is notable because Xi has rarely travelled abroad with corporate executives since Beijing's regulatory crackdowns on the technology, education, and property sectors began in 2020.
The planned delegation is intended, in part, to signal China's willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the US, while offering the White House potential economic wins ahead of midterm elections, one source said. The exact list of executives joining has not been confirmed.
Xi last brought a large business group to the US in 2015, which included Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent founder Pony Ma, and executives from major banks and state-owned firms. That visit saw China sign a $38 billion agreement for 300 Boeing aircraft, and Xi met with US tech leaders including Apple's Tim Cook, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In contrast, President Trump has travelled to China with large US business delegations, including a May visit with 18 executives such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Elon Musk. Scott Kennedy, a China business expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Chinese approach appears more deliberate than the US delegation, which he described as assembled at short notice with executives playing a limited role.
The summit is expected to be largely symbolic, with modest expectations for major deliverables. Three sources briefed on the matter said the Board of Investment is unlikely to produce significant outcomes given the challenging US environment for Chinese investment. Beijing and Washington also remain divided over which products should qualify as "non-sensitive" under the Board of Trade, with about 10 categories under discussion.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said both countries will make announcements on agriculture and non-tariff barriers during the summit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Greer, and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are scheduled to meet in early September to discuss summit deliverables. Chinese companies have faced increasing US scrutiny, including a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, bans on foreign drones and routers, and forced divestiture of TikTok's US operations.