US President Donald Trump’s grandiose state dinner for Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was a chance for both leaders to address major challenges facing the two global superpowers.
Yet despite the presence of leading tech CEOs and senior diplomats from both sides, neither Trump nor Xi offered any hints of progress on addressing AI development, trade or international conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Further discussions between the two leaders are expected over the coming days, but Trump’s emphasis on pageantry raises questions over whether Chinese and US officials will make meaningful headway.
A lavish meal for an exclusive guest list
Trump, Xi and senior officials from both sides were joined at the dinner by a host of business leaders and a select group of media personalities, all from Fox News.
The CEOs of major tech companies made up a significant portion of those on the exclusive guest list, with SpaceXAI boss and ardent Trump backer Elon Musk, OpenAI head Sam Altman and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg all in attendance.
Notably, though, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has clashed with the Trump administration over AI regulation, was absent despite the company playing a leading role in the development of the technology.
No Chinese CEOs were included on the guest list, likely due to the fact many are under sanctions from the US and its allies.
However, the heavy presence of US AI and tech leaders, and Trump’s repeated warnings America cannot afford to lose its technological race with China, suggest their absence may have also been designed to send a message to Xi.
Collectively, those who attended the event are worth well over US$1 trillion, with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and luxury goods producer LVMH’s Bernard Arnault alone roughly worth a combined $680bn (£514bn).
Musk alone is worth more than $900bn (£681bn).
The dinner menu was suitably lavish for such an exclusive group.
A starter of yellow squash velouté and wild mushroom fricassee with crispy pancetta beneath a drizzle of scallion oil began the meal, and was followed by an entrée of sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy, roasted eggplant and herb sauce.
A vanilla crémeux with a sour cherry confit center on top of a walnut frangipane and a serving of ice cream made using honey from bee houses at the White House rounded out the dinner.
Neither Trump nor Xi offered any hints of progress on addressing AI development, trade or international conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)Trump’s eagle a typically outlandish gift
During his address to those gathered on Thursday evening, Trump took the opportunity to unveil a typically outlandish gift to his Chinese counterpart.
A large statue of a bald eagle, the US’ national bird, was dramatically revealed by two military aides as the President said he hoped it would find “a nice place, a wonderful place, in Beijing”.
Trump claimed the artist responsible, who he did not name, was “one of the greatest in the world” and had designed the statue “in personal collaboration with (First Lady) Melania and myself”.
The gift was in keeping with Trump’s other extravagant offerings to world leaders and came as the President talked up the personal relationship between the two leaders.
“We’ve never gotten along better,” he told those in attendance.
Trump has long bragged about his ability to forge strong interpersonal ties with other heads of state, claiming his management of those relationships has helped secure record successes for US foreign policy.
Both sides say talks constructive, but offer little detail
Neither Trump nor Xi offered major insight into the talks between officials on Thursday.
A readout of the discussions from Chinese state media revealed Xi had reiterated calls for the US to oppose “Taiwan independence”, as well as expressing support for steps to ensure AI remained under human control.
The pair also discussed the Iran war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and North Korea, the readout added.
Speaking at the dinner, Xi said he and Trump had reached a “common understanding on many issues” without elaborating further.
“China and the United States must act as responsible major countries,” he added, before calling on both sides to establish “a new approach for major countries to get along with each other”.
The White House has not yet released an official account of the talks and Trump himself offered almost no insight into what was discussed.
Trump told attendees at the dinner he and Xi “both understand we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure”.
The lack of detail from both sides, along with an emphasis on “stability” from Xi and Chinese state media, suggests substantive breakthroughs from the talks are unlikely.
An agreement to extend a trade truce until January has also fuelled claims the US and China are more focused on preventing further disruption than making meaningful headway into resolving challenging topics, such as AI and Chinese support for Russia and Iran.
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