DALIAN — The United States and China are discussing whether Chinese business executives will attend a summit in Washington on the 24th of next month, according to reports. An extension of the one-year trade agreement signed last October is also seen as likely.
The South China Morning Post reported on the 28th, citing four people familiar with the matter, that the two countries are negotiating whether Chinese executives will accompany the delegation to the September 24 summit in Washington. The move would mirror the May summit in Beijing, which was attended by U.S. executives including Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Because the two sides earlier agreed to grant tariff reductions on non-sensitive industries and products such as consumer goods, companies in those sectors are seen as possible members of the delegation. President Xi Jinping disclosed that Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Tencent Chairman Pony Ma accompanied him on his 2015 visit to the United States, but no executives appeared on the delegation lists for his 2017 and 2023 trips.
The two countries have moved toward extending the trade agreement, but China wants it to run through 2029, when President Donald Trump's term ends, while the United States is seeking a one-year extension.
Meanwhile, tensions between the two sides ahead of the summit were also on display at the third Senior Officials' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which closed in Dalian, Liaoning Province, on the same day. The SOM is where APEC members coordinate the agenda for the leaders' summit in advance.
Chen Xu, chair of the APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, said at a closing briefing that "during the meeting, each member gave a positive assessment of China's vision and preparatory work." With the United States raising tariff barriers under an America-first approach, China is positioning itself as a new leader of the multilateral order.
The two countries also differ on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, one of the meeting's most important agenda items. China aims to link and build on existing free trade agreements it has led, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Because the United States is not a party to either agreement, moving in that direction could weaken Washington's leverage. The United States, by contrast, argues that the FTAAP should include stronger rules on labor and fair competition — a position aimed squarely at allegations of forced labor involving China's Uyghur population and of low-price dumping exports supported by government subsidies.
