BEIJING, Sep 4 — Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing a large business delegation to accompany him on his visit to Washington, according to sources, an unusual move given the United States' (US) scepticism towards Chinese investment and Beijing's strained ties with private enterprise.
He 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 planned business delegation for the September 24 summit has not been previously reported. Reuters could not determine which executives would join the delegation.
One source familiar with the discussions said the move aims, in part, to signal China's willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the US, while offering the White House potential economic wins ahead of midterm elections.
Chinese companies have faced increasing scrutiny of their US investments and business operations in recent years.
Washington has imposed a 100 per cent tariff on imported Chinese electric vehicles, banned imports of foreign drones, routers, and robots, and forced TikTok to divest its US 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 US in 2015, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent founder Pony Ma, and executives from Chinese banks and state-owned firms.
During that visit, China signed a US$38 billion (RM153.6 billion) agreement for 300 Boeing aircraft, and Xi met US technology executives including Apple's Tim Cook, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
By contrast, US 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
Sources said that Trump took 18 American executives, including Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, to China in May.
"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 the Centre for Strategic and International Studies' Chinese business expert Scott Kennedy.
He added that the participation of executives could prove "really valuable".
Kennedy contrasted the Chinese approach with the organisation of the US delegation in May, which he said was assembled at short notice and whose executives were "more wallflowers than serious participants."
The US Treasury, the Office of the US Trade Representative, and the State Department did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. China's Foreign and Commerce Ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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 US environment for Chinese investment.
Expectations for the summit remain modest, with limited prospects for major breakthroughs.
They added that Beijing and Washington also remain divided over which products should qualify as "non-sensitive" under the Board of Trade.
One of the sources said that about 10 categories of "non-sensitive" goods are being discussed for inclusion, but this could change closer to the summit.
Board of Trade
The sources noted that reaching an agreement on the Board of Trade is one of the main US priorities for the summit along with securing more rare earth export licenses for US companies.
An unnamed US official said the administration continues to press Chinese counterparts to address China’s lack of compliance with the agreement announced in Busan, South Korea in October last year, which 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. In July, China's Commerce Ministry said that both sides were exploring reciprocal tariff reductions covering US$30 billion (RM121.3 billion) worth of products.
While the US Supreme Court struck down China-related tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in February, Washington subsequently introduced a 10 per cent global import tariff.
On Thursday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that both countries will make "some announcements on agriculture and non-tariff barriers" during the summit, without providing specifics.
Four sources told Reuters that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Greer, and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will meet in early September to discuss summit deliverables. Reuters could not determine the exact date or location of the talks.
