Trump to greet Xi at airport, host tech CEO state dinner — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Trump plans to greet Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews on arrival, a rare airport welcome for a visiting foreign leader, according to a senior US official who briefed reporters Friday.
- The visit includes an arrival ceremony inside the White House, a Rose Garden military review, and a state dinner on Sep 24 with Xi and Peng Liyuan as guests of honour.
- Invited tech CEOs for the state dinner include Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sundar Pichai (Alphabet), Sam Altman (OpenAI), Tim Cook (Apple), Elon Musk (Tesla), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), and Michael Dell (Dell Technologies).
- Trump told reporters during an Oval Office briefing: "Thousands of people would love to be at that dinner," adding he had to tell "very good friends" they couldn't attend.
- Officials said discussion topics will include trade, the flow of rare earths to the global economy, and AI.
- First ladies Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan will hold a separate engagement during the visit, US officials said.
Why it matters: The Sep 24 state dinner doubles as a high-stakes trade-and-tech stage: seating the CEOs who lead America's AI and semiconductor supply chains (Nvidia, OpenAI, Apple, Alphabet) opposite Xi sends a deliberate signal that the US views AI and rare-earth supply chains as the core negotiating terrain, not just tariff line items.
Ask SkimNews
