Trump hosts Xi at White House state dinner after high-stakes summit

LUMINARIES from Wall Street and Silicon Valley joined US President Donald Trump for a state dinner on Thursday (Sep 24) honoring his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, in a demonstration of US technological and financial might.

Trump has welcomed Xi with fanfare this week, affording rare state visit honors to a counterpart considered one of America’s biggest industrial and military rivals. The race to dominate in artificial intelligence has emerged as a growing flashpoint, with Chinese companies rapidly closing the gap with US models.

Even as they compete, both governments are agreed on pushing ahead with AI’s development despite mounting concerns over the technology’s impact on jobs, the environment and even the future of humanity.

Thursday’s dinner brought together some of the most influential names in that sphere. Xi was seated with Trump at a table with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, whose best semiconductors the US has banned from being exported to China. Others at that table included Apple’s Tim Cook and Lisa Su of memory chip giant Advanced Micro Devices.

By contrast, at the banquet Beijing held for Trump earlier this year the American guest of honour was seated exclusively with relatives as well as officials from the US and Chinese delegations.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other top Trump advisers on trade and the economy, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, were on the guest list, as was Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh.

Other invitees on Thursday included tech icons Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk as well as OpenAI’s Sam Altman.

Trump’s warm welcome for Xi, however, has also drawn criticism, including from a Republican senator, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who questioned the administration’s decision to salute China’s leader. As guests arrived on Thursday, protesters near the White House could be heard chanting, including calls to “Free Hong Kong” and “Free Tibet.”

Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcomed Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan. The US first lady wore what appeared to be a white top with a large bow and black pants, while Peng wore a red long-sleeved dress.

Finance executives on the guest list for the evening included Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs Group and Mastercard’s Michael Miebach. Other business titans invited included Kelly Ortberg of Boeing and David Ellison of Paramount Skydance

Noticeably absent however was the presence of Chinese business leaders. Xi’s delegation was not expected to include many CEOs, highlighting potential differences in expectations between the countries about the summit, even as Trump said he expected to secure many business deals. Of the more than 130 names on the guest list, only 19 were part of the Chinese delegation – and none were business figures.

Before the soiree, Trump cast the dinner as the hottest ticket in town, saying “everybody wanted to be there,” and describing the guest list as encompassing “the entire tech world, the entire banking world, and a lot more.”

State dinners are a grand White House tradition for honoring foreign leaders. It is the second such celebration of Trump’s current term, following a dinner in April for King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla.

Guests will be served three courses that the first lady’s office described as showcasing “American ingredients with subtle Chinese influence.” It will open with a toast of Schramsberg “Blanc De Noirs,” a California sparkling wine, the White House said. A wine from the vineyard was also served at President Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit to Beijing in 1972.

Attendees will be entertained by Christopher Macchio, a tenor who also performed at Trump’s 2025 inauguration, as well as military bands. The decor for the lavish dinner highlighted the colour red, an auspicious colour in Chinese culture, with urns topped with red blossoms and red linens dressing tables also adorned with seasonal dahlias and ranunculus.

While expectations for breakthroughs were low going into the summit, the countries will extend a trade truce – that was set to expire in November – until Jan 10, 2027. Trump said before Thursday’s meetings that he and Xi would discuss issues related to security, technology and AI.

Xi later told Trump their countries could continue to have a dialogue on AI and jointly guard against misuse of the technology, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Both Trump and Xi cited the long history of US-China ties and what they cast as a friendship that has endured – remarks that resonated following a turbulent stretch in the relationship between the two nations.

The US president in his toast said the two countries had “never gotten along better since the first trade ships from New York left the harbor to arrive on the banks of the Pearl River,” and expressed optimism that they could both find “prosperity and security for future generations.”

Xi referenced the cooperation between the US and China during World War II, noting that the Chinese people rescued hundreds of American pilots at the cost of many lives. “Such a friendship, forged in blood and fire, will surely live on through the generations,” he said.

Trump’s efforts to ban three news organisations also affected coverage of the summit. Even after the White House restored access to the outlets, though, the White House did not say publicly if it planned to reinstate CNN to a rotating pool of networks that handle presidential coverage, a sticking point in a media boycott.

The president had made his anticipation for Xi’s visit clear for months – and regularly cited events such as the state dinner as justification for plans to construct a massive ballroom on the White House grounds. Trump has claimed the White House lacks the space to host such large events.

In his toast, the president invited the state dinner attendees to visit the still-under-construction ballroom, calling it a “special treat” in honor of Xi’s visit. “You’ll be the first people,” on the ballroom floor, Trump said. BLOOMBERG