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The wrangling over a business delegation for next week's summit in Beijing is just one sign of the delicate balancing act the administration is trying to strike on the commercial relationship between the economic rivals.
President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands as they leave after their talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30, 2025. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
American business leaders are frustrated over what they describe as mixed signals from the White House about the role CEOs will play in President Donald Trump’s upcoming trip to Beijing.
The White House has begun sending out invitations to business executives to join events surrounding Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week after deliberating for weeks on the size of the delegation — part of a long-running debate within the administration over how much to encourage private sector engagement with its biggest economic rival.
