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🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates /Economy & Trade

Xi plans to bring large CEO delegation on US visit, sources say

From Khaleej Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Unnamed sources New plan
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to bring a large delegation of business executives to Washington for a Sept. 24 White House visit, two sources said.
  • The delegation would signal China’s interest in investment and commercial ties with the United States, while potentially offering economic gains for the White House before midterm elections.
  • The White House said it was not tracking such a delegation, and Reuters could not identify which executives would attend.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing an unusual addition to his Washington visit: a large delegation of Chinese chief executives, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

US President Donald Trump has said he will host Xi for a state dinner at the White House on Sept. 24. Xi rarely travels abroad with corporate executives, particularly after many Chinese business leaders lost favor during Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns on the technology, education and property sectors that began in 2020.

The White House is not tracking a Chinese CEO delegation.

· White House officialThe official responded to reports that Xi planned to bring business executives to Washington.

The White House said it was not tracking a Chinese CEO delegation, without explaining what “tracking” meant. The delegation had not previously been reported, and Reuters could not determine which executives would join it.

One source said the plan was intended partly to signal China’s willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the United States. It could also give the White House potential economic gains before the midterm elections. Chinese companies have faced growing scrutiny of their US investments and operations. Washington has imposed a 100 percent tariff on imported Chinese electric vehicles, banned foreign drone, router and robot imports, forced the divestiture of TikTok’s US operations, and placed major Chinese technology firms on national-security blacklists.

My sense is that the Chinese... are going to be more intentional about the role of these business people in having them join the delegation.

· Scott KennedyThe Chinese business expert assessed how executives might participate in Xi’s visit.

Xi last brought a large business contingent to the United States in 2015. That group included Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent founder Pony Ma, and executives from Chinese banks and state-owned companies. China signed a $38 billion agreement for 300 Boeing aircraft during that visit, while Xi met technology executives including Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Trump has taken large groups of US executives to China, including 18 people on a visit in May, among them Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Elon Musk. Scott Kennedy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Chinese officials appeared likely to give participating business leaders a more deliberate role than the US delegation had in May. The US Treasury, the Office of the US Trade Representative and the State Department declined to comment.

Really valuable

· Scott KennedyKennedy described the potential value of executive participation in the delegation.
About this summary

Originally published by Khaleej Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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