Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing a large business delegation to accompany him on his visit to Washington in September, two sources quoted by Reuters said. It is an unusual move given US skepticism of Chinese investment and Beijing's strained relations with private businesses, the agency said, BTA reports.
Xi rarely travels abroad with corporate executives, many of whom fell out of favor after Beijing tightened regulations on the technology, education and real estate sectors in 2020.
Reuters was unable to obtain information on which business executives would join the delegation for the summit on September 24.
The move is partly intended to show China's willingness to support investment and trade relations with the United States, while also offering the White House opportunities to achieve economic success before the midterm elections, said one of the sources familiar with the discussions.
In recent years, Chinese companies have come under increasing scrutiny over their investments and business operations in USA.
Washington has imposed a 100 percent tariff on imported Chinese electric cars, banned imports of foreign drones, routers and robots and forced the Chinese company behind “TikTok“ to sell its US business. The US has also added major Chinese technology companies to the so-called Entity List, designated as national security threats, and to a Pentagon blacklist.
Xi was last accompanied by a large business delegation to the US in 2015, which included “Alibaba“ founder Jack Ma, “Tencent“ founder Pony Ma, as well as heads of Chinese banks and state-owned companies.
During that visit, China signed a $38 billion deal to buy 300 “Boeing“ (Boeing), and Xi met with executives from U.S. technology companies, including Apple's Tim Cook, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Unlike the Chinese leader, U.S. President Donald Trump has traveled to China with large delegations of U.S. business leaders, including on visits in 2017 and in May this year in an effort to secure greater access to Chinese markets.
Trump brought 18 U.S. executives to China in May, including Nvidia's CEO (Nvidia) Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, the sources said.
“My sense is that the Chinese will be more deliberate about the role of these business representatives and their inclusion in the delegation,“ said Scott Kennedy, an expert on Chinese business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The participation of executives, he said, could be “really valuable”.
Kennedy compared the Chinese approach to the organization of the U.S. delegation in May, which he said was put together on short notice and the business leaders were more “side observers” than active participants.
The U.S. Treasury Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the State Department, as well as China's ministries of foreign affairs and commerce, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
The two countries announced formal mechanisms in May to govern their trade and investment relations. But three separate sources familiar with the matter said the Investment Council was unlikely to achieve meaningful results at the summit because of the unfavourable environment for Chinese investment in the United States.
Expectations for the summit remain subdued, with little prospect of a major breakthrough, the sources said.
Beijing and Washington also remain divided over which products should be designated as “non-sensitive” within the Trade Council, the three sources said.
The inclusion of about 10 categories of goods considered sensitive is under discussion, but that could change as the summit approaches, one of the sources said.
Agreement within the Trade Council is one of the top U.S. priorities for the summit, along with securing more rare earth export licenses for U.S. companies, the sources said.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration was continuing to press its Chinese counterparts to take action over Beijing's failure to comply with an agreement announced in Busan in October that reached a year-long trade truce and lifted some export restrictions and tariffs, as well as other bilateral issues.
Beijing is pushing for further tariff relief. China's Commerce Ministry said in July that the two countries were discussing mutual tariff reductions covering $30 billion worth of goods.
In February, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down tariffs on Chinese goods imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but Washington subsequently imposed a global 10 percent tariff on imports.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Thursday that the two sides would make "some announcements on agriculture and non-tariff barriers" during the summit, without providing details.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifen will meet in early September to discuss specific outcomes to be achieved at the summit, four sources told Reuters. The agency was unable to determine the exact date or location of the talks.