When President Trump sits down with Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state dinner at the White House next week, they will be flanked by the architects of America’s tech economy.
Seven CEOs — SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Dell Technologies’ Michael Dell and Citi’s Jane Fraser — and Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook are confirmed to attend the high-stakes gathering, according to White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly
Thursday’s state dinner could transform what would traditionally be a formal diplomatic affair into a convergence of geopolitical and corporate power at a moment when AI dominance, trade and technology export controls hang in the balance between Washington and Beijing.
The dinner is scheduled to be held in the East Room of the White House, where Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi will deliver remarks at the dinner’s start.
Mr. Xi’s visit runs Wednesday through Friday. He will land at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews for an arrival ceremony, followed by a Rose Garden military review, bilateral meeting, the state dinner, private tea and tour of the National Archives.
AI safety is confirmed to be on the agenda for the Trump-Xi bilateral meeting, per a White House senior official.
The U.S.-China trade truce, known as the Busan truce, which expires in November, is also on the agenda.
The Busan truce is a one-year economic and trade agreement reached between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi last Oct. 30 in the South Korean city to de-escalate trade and tech tensions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to hold high-level talks with Chinese counterparts in New York over the weekend ahead of Mr. Xi’s visit, focused on AI and related issues.
Mr. Trump and his administration have defended U.S. policy against overregulating AI technology, saying the U.S. is already prepared to curb artificial intelligence and prosecute the abuse of the technology without the new rules that Democrats are proposing.
“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that in spades!” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social.
Mr. Trump’s post followed new calls by some experts for Congress, the administration and AI industry leaders to slow the advance of artificial intelligence.
The specialists are seeking safety measures to prevent a rogue internet takeover by AI amid threats of a “swarm of bots” overtaking the internet and destroying humanity.
Mr. Trump slammed the claims as “a SICK conspiracy” aimed at slowing U.S. advancement in AI and data centers, which have also faced pushback in recent months. The president said the opposition in the U.S. is benefiting China.
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