Tech titans will mingle with Trump and Xi at state dinner

• Tech leaders like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Tim Cook will attend a White House state dinner honouring Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sept 24, amid tense US-China relations.
• The dinner occurs during trade talks addressing tariffs, AI regulation, and security, with plans for minor agreements on energy, farm goods, and fentanyl policing.
• US officials face criticism over hosting Xi amid midterm elections and concerns about Chinese imports, especially in the auto industry, with calls to restrict Chinese vehicle sales in the US.

WASHINGTON - Some of the United States’ most prominent chief executives are expected to attend a state dinner at the White House on Sept 24 honouring the arrival of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The list includes some of America’s biggest tech titans, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Tim Cook, Sam Altman, Michael Dell and Sundar Pichai. Jane Fraser, the head of Citigroup, is also expected to attend, according to a Trump administration official who previewed the guest list on the condition of anonymity.

Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, Albert Bourla of Pfizer and Lisa Su of AMD were also invited, according to a former official and other people familiar with the invitations.

Several top executives from Chinese companies also arrived in Washington shortly before the summit, according to three people familiar with their travel. But it is unclear if those executives, who did not travel to the United States with Xi, had been asked to join the state dinner.

The celebration – which was set to feature a three-course menu including sesame-crusted sea bass and crisp baby bok choy – comes at a moment of heightened geopolitical uncertainty for the world’s largest businesses.

Challenges include higher tariffs and trade barriers between the United States and China, and the potential in both countries of new regulation for artificial intelligence.

The meetings between President Donald Trump and Xi are expected to result in a package of minor announcements, including Chinese purchases of energy and farm goods, and a renewed commitment to police the fentanyl trade.

Officials agreed to extend a trade truce for two more months, and were also expected to discuss security and technology, including AI.

On Sept 20, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the United States had proposed to China a notification system in which the two countries would inform each other if matters related to AI reach the national security level.

There have also been questions among US business leaders about whether China’s AI models, which openly publish the underlying calculations of their systems, could one day leap ahead of American ones.

The decision to bring a Chinese delegation to the United States comes at a precarious moment for the administration, with midterm elections looming in November. Both Democrats and Republicans have criticised Trump for rolling out the red carpet for Xi. Voters are also concerned about higher prices, which are partly a result of tariffs.

Although many officials want to promote certain trade with China, like purchases of US farm goods, they also have widespread concern about the potential impact on US industry from encouraging more Chinese imports, including in the auto sector.

Trump has repeatedly expressed openness to Chinese car companies investing in the United States, as long as they hire American workers.

Last week, trade groups representing major automakers, suppliers and dealers sent a letter to the president urging him to “keep the door firmly shut to Chinese automakers seeking to sell, import or manufacture vehicles inside the US”.

An existing 100 per cent tariff and Commerce Department restrictions on internet-connected vehicles from China make it impractical to import Chinese vehicles today. Some US senators have been pushing for a legislation on Chinese vehicles that would enshrine the effective ban. NYTIMES

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.