Trump hosts Xi Jinping at White House state dinner with tech leaders for AI talks

President Donald Trump is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state dinner at the White House on September 24, 2026, and the guest list reads like a who’s who of American tech royalty. Executives from Tesla, OpenAI, Nvidia, Amazon, Google, and Apple are expected to attend, turning what could have been a standard diplomatic affair into something closer to a power summit for the age of artificial intelligence. It marks Xi’s first state visit to the United States in over a decade. The topics on the table, AI safety, semiconductor policy, trade, and rare earth minerals, are the kinds of issues that tend to move markets and reshape industries in equal measure. The dinner table doubles as a negotiation room The event is taking place in the White House East Room, and the agenda extends well beyond pleasantries and place settings. AI safety protocols sit at the center of the conversation, alongside chip export policy, technology competition between the two superpowers, and the ongoing friction over tariffs and rare earth mineral supply chains. The dinner follows groundwork laid just days earlier. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss ...