Xi rarely travels abroad with corporate executives, many of whom fell out of favour 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 official said. The White House did not explain what they meant by tracking.
The business delegation for the September 24 summit has not been previously reported. Reuters could not determine which executives would join the delegation.
The move is aimed in part at signalling China’s willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the U.S., while offering the White House some potential economic wins ahead of midterm elections, one of the sources familiar with discussions said.
Chinese companies have faced increasing scrutiny of their U.S. investments and business operations in recent years.
Washington has imposed a 100% tariff on imported Chinese EVs, banned foreign drone, router and robot imports, and forced the divestiture of TikTok’s U.S. operations. It also placed major Chinese tech firms on the Entity List of firms or organisations deemed a threat to national security and on a Pentagon blacklist.
Xi last brought a sizeable business contingent to the U.S. in 2015, including Alibaba (9988.HK), opens new tab founder Jack Ma, Tencent (0700.HK), opens new tab founder Pony Ma, and executives from Chinese banks and state-owned firms.
During that visit, China signed a $38 billion agreement for 300 Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab aircraft and Xi met U.S. technology executives including Apple’s (AAPL.O), opens new tab Tim Cook, Meta’s (META.O), opens new tab Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab founder Jeff Bezos.
By contrast, U.S. President Donald Trump has travelled to China with large delegations of American executives, including on 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 (NVDA.O), opens new tab CEO Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, to China in May, the sources said.
“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,” said Scott Kennedy, a Chinese business expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The participation of executives could prove “really valuable,” he said.
Kennedy contrasted the Chinese approach with the organisation of the U.S. delegation in May, which he said was assembled at short notice and whose executives were “more wallflowers than serious participants.”
The U.S. Treasury declined to comment on this story. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the State Department did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. China’s commerce ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China’s foreign ministry said both countries maintain communication on their leaders’ planned interactions this year, without elaborating.
SYMBOLIC SUMMIT
The two nations announced formal mechanisms to manage trade and investment ties in May. However, three separate sources briefed on the matter said the Board of Investment is unlikely to produce significant deliverables at the summit because of the challenging U.S. 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, 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.
BOARD OF TRADE
Reaching an agreement on the Board of Trade is one of the main U.S. priorities for the summit along with securing more rare earth export licenses for U.S. companies, the sources said.
An unnamed U.S. official said the administration continues to press Chinese counterparts to address China’s lack of compliance with the agreement they announced in Busan in October that secured a one-year trade truce that paused some export controls and tariffs, as well as other bilateral concerns.
Beijing has pressed for further tariff relief. China’s commerce ministry said in July that both sides were exploring reciprocal tariff reductions covering $30 billion worth of products.
