China to bring business execs to DC during state visit

UNUSUAL INCLUSION: While Trump brought a herd of executives to the meeting in Beijing several month ago, Xinping has shown less inclination to bring CEOs along

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is preparing a large business delegation to accompany him on his visit to Washington, two sources said, an unusual move given US skepticism toward Chinese investment and Beijing’s strained ties with private enterprise.

Xi rarely travels abroad with corporate executives, many of whom fell from of favor after 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,” an US official said. They did not explain what they meant by tracking.

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea on Oct. 30, 2025.

Photo: Reuters

The business delegation for the Sept. 24 summit has not been reported before. Reuters could not determine which executives would join the delegation.

The move is aimed in part at signaling China’s willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the US, while offering the White House some possible economic wins ahead of midterm elections, one of the sources familiar with discussions said.

Xi last brought a sizeable business contingent to the US in 2015, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) founder Jack Ma (馬雲), Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) founder Pony Ma (馬化騰), and executives from Chinese banks and state-owned firms.

During that visit, China signed a US$38 billion agreement for 300 Boeing Co aircraft and Xi met US technology executives including Apple Inc’s Tim Cook, Meta Platforms Inc’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos.

By contrast, US President Donald Trump has travelled to China with large delegations of US executives, including on visits in 2017 and May this year, seeking greater access to Chinese markets. Trump took 18 executives, including Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, to China in May.

The two nations announced formal mechanisms to manage trade and investment ties in May. However, three separate sources briefed on the matter said the US-China Board of Investment is unlikely to produce significant deliverables at the summit because of the challenging US environment for Chinese investment.

Expectations for the summit remain modest, with limited prospects for major breakthroughs, the sources said.

Beijing and Washington remain divided over which products should qualify as “non-sensitive” under the US-China Board of Trade, the three sources said.

About 10 categories of “non-sensitive” goods are being discussed for inclusion, but this could change closer to the summit, one of the sources said.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Thursday that both countries would make “some announcements on agriculture and non-tariff barriers” during the summit, without providing specifics.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) meet early this month to discuss summit deliverables, four sources said. Reuters could not determine the exact date or location of the talks.