The 12 Key Executives Showing Up to Dinner with Xi Jinping: What Their Presence Means for Your Portfolio
Washington D.C. prepares for a dinner that is less about food and more about leverage.
With two days to go before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to land in the U.S., very little is known about which, if any, Chinese executives will join him. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement to CNBC Tuesday it had no information to provide. Late on Monday, the ministry confirmed Xi's U.S. trip, planned for Wednesday to Friday.
A source familiar with the preparations noted that they were not aware of any Chinese companies who have been invited to join the Chinese president on his trip. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is one of the executives who will attend a dinner expected Thursday in Washington D.C. according to the source. Microsoft and the White House did not respond to a CNBC request for comment.
The presence of these leaders indicates a consolidation of US corporate power and technology. Senior U.S. officials have shared names of some other executives who will join. Those business leaders include Nvidia's Jensen Huang, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Google's Sundar Pichai, Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk, Citigroup's Jane Fraser, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook, Dell's Michael Dell, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg.
Isaac Stone Fish of Strategy Risks pointed out that whether or not BYD participates in the Trump-Xi meetings this week will send a strong signal about the possibility of Chinese EVs in America. He explained that Xi could bring the heads of state-owned enterprises, 'but those are government officials, who in some cases are effectively ministers in the Chinese government.' This, he said, 'may seem to the US as unfairly blurring the lines between a business delegation and a government delegation, and SOEs are on the whole less welcome investors in the US than private companies.'
As tensions between the U.S. and China have escalated in recent years, both governments have put companies from the other country on blacklists that restrict business activity. Reuters reported last week that business representatives under consideration included those from electric car giant BYD, smartphone company Xiaomi, battery makers CATL and Gotion, consumer electronics manufacturer Hisense, automotive parts company Wanxiang, state-owned Bank of China and agricultural conglomerate COFCO Group.
BYD had no comment when contacted by CNBC. Hours before Xi's arrival in the U.S., Gotion said it had not received official confirmation of participation. The other Chinese companies did not respond to requests for comment.
First reported by CNBC: Finance.
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