President Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House for a state dinner on Thursday, September 25, 2026. The guest list was notably tech-heavy, featuring prominent figures such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Other industry leaders included Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and former Apple CEO Tim Cook, alongside French luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault of LVMH. The event showcased a blend of diplomacy and pageantry, as the two leaders addressed tensions over trade, artificial intelligence, and Taiwan earlier in the day.
The dinner, held in the White House East Room, was described by Trump as attracting "the entire tech world, the entire banking world and a lot more." Attendees included a wide array of Silicon Valley executives, Wall Street financiers, members of Trump's Cabinet, lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, and media figures. The significant presence of technology executives underscored the ongoing competition in AI and advanced computer chips, with US chipmakers like Nvidia caught between Washington's efforts to restrict technology access to China and the vast Chinese market.
First Lady Melania Trump helped craft the evening's menu, which featured a first course of yellow squash velouté with wild mushrooms, crispy pancetta, and scallion oil. The main course was sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy, roasted garden eggplant, and sauce verte. Dessert included vanilla crémeux with sour cherry confit, walnut frangipane, and ice cream with honey from the White House. The meal was served on fine china dating back to the Reagan administration, and the decor emphasized the color red, an auspicious color in Chinese culture.
Notable finance executives present included Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs Group, and Michael Miebach of Mastercard. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh were also on the guest list. Despite the extensive list of American business leaders, Chinese business figures were noticeably absent, with only 19 members of the Chinese delegation attending, none of whom were business executives.
Trump used the occasion to praise US-China friendship and expressed optimism for future prosperity and security between the two nations, despite prior criticisms of his warm welcome for Xi. The countries agreed to extend a trade truce, initially set to expire in November, until January 10, 2027. Discussions also touched upon the long history of US-China ties, with Trump referencing the first trade ships from New York to the Pearl River. Entertainment for the evening included Christopher Macchio, a tenor, and military bands.
