Xi plans unusual business delegation for Trump summit, sources say

Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to bring a large delegation of business executives to Washington for his Sept. 24 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, two sources told Reuters, in an unusual move that comes amid continued U.S. scrutiny of Chinese investment and strained relations between Beijing and private enterprise.

Xi rarely travels abroad with corporate executives. Many Chinese business leaders have fallen out of favour since Beijing began regulatory crackdowns on the technology, education and property sectors in 2020.

One source familiar with the discussions said the delegation was intended partly to signal China’s willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the United States, while potentially giving the White House economic gains to tout ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

Chinese companies have faced increasing scrutiny of their U.S. investments and operations in recent years. Washington has imposed a 100% tariff on imported Chinese electric vehicles, banned foreign imports of drones, routers and robots, and forced the divestiture of TikTok’s U.S. operations. It has also placed major Chinese technology companies on the Entity List of firms and organisations considered threats to national security, as well as on a Pentagon blacklist.

Xi last brought a sizeable business contingent to the United States in 2015. The delegation included Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent founder Pony Ma, and executives from Chinese banks and state-owned companies.

During that visit, China signed a $38 billion agreement for 300 Boeing aircraft. Xi also met U.S. technology executives including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

By contrast, Trump has travelled to China with large delegations of U.S. business executives, including during visits in 2017 and May this year, as he sought greater access for American companies to Chinese markets.

By Tamilla Hasanova