BEIJING, Sep 05(Alliance News): Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to bring a large delegation of business executives to Washington for his planned September 24 summit with US President Donald Trump, two sources said.
The move is unusual because Xi rarely travels abroad with corporate executives, many of whom faced regulatory pressure during Beijing’s crackdown on the technology, education and property sectors that began in 2020.
The planned business delegation has not previously been reported. Reuters could not determine which executives would join the delegation.
One source familiar with the discussions said the move was partly aimed at signalling China’s willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the United States while offering the White House potential economic gains ahead of the US midterm elections.
Chinese companies have faced increasing scrutiny over their investments and business operations in the United States in recent years.
Washington has imposed a 100% tariff on imported Chinese electric vehicles, banned imports of foreign drones, routers and robots, and forced the divestiture of TikTok’s US operations.
The United States has also placed major Chinese technology companies on its Entity List and a Pentagon blacklist over national security concerns.
Xi last brought a sizeable business delegation to the United States in 2015, when Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent founder Pony Ma, Chinese bank executives and representatives of state-owned companies accompanied him.
During that visit, China signed a $38 billion agreement for 300 Boeing aircraft. Xi also met US technology executives including Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In contrast, Trump has travelled to China with large groups of American executives, including during visits in 2017 and May this year, seeking greater access to Chinese markets.
Large US business delegation visited Beijing
Trump took 18 American executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, to China in May, according to the sources.
Scott Kennedy, a Chinese business expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Beijing appeared likely to give business executives a more deliberate role in the upcoming delegation.
He said the participation of executives could prove “really valuable”, contrasting it with the US delegation in May, which he described as having been assembled at short notice.
The US Treasury, Office of the US Trade Representative and State Department did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. China’s foreign and commerce ministries also did not immediately respond.
Symbolic summit
The two countries announced formal mechanisms in May to manage trade and investment ties. However, three sources familiar with the matter said the Board of Investment was 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 also remain divided over which products should qualify as “non-sensitive” under the Board of Trade.
Around 10 categories of “non-sensitive” goods are being discussed for possible inclusion, although the list could change before the summit.
Board of Trade
Reaching an agreement on the Board of Trade is among Washington’s main priorities for the summit, along with securing additional rare earth export licences for US companies, according to the sources.
An unnamed US official said the administration was continuing to press Chinese counterparts over China’s alleged lack of compliance with the agreement announced in Busan in October, which secured a one-year trade truce and paused some export controls and tariffs.
Beijing has sought further tariff relief. China’s Commerce Ministry said in July that both sides were exploring reciprocal tariff reductions covering $30 billion worth of products.
Although the US Supreme Court struck down China-related tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in February, Washington subsequently introduced a 10% global import tariff.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Thursday that both countries would make “some announcements on agriculture and non-tariff barriers” during the summit, without providing details.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are expected to meet in early September to discuss possible summit deliverables, four sources told Reuters. The exact date and location of the talks have not been determined.
