BEIJING/WASHINGTON, March 9 - Planning for the forthcoming summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appears aimed primarily at preserving the relative calm that has characterized U.S.-China relations since late last year, rather than at engineering a substantive reworking of commercial and investment ties, according to multiple officials and people involved in preparations.
Those involved in the preparations say that at this stage American business leaders have not secured the robust CEO delegation some had hoped to accompany the president, and that there is no clear sign Beijing will obtain the investment protections it has sought for Chinese firms. The limited ambitions for the trip contrast with earlier hopes among some U.S. companies that the visit might accomplish more than providing a green light for deals already under discussion, such as Chinese purchases of soybeans and aircraft from Boeing.
Sources familiar with the planning describe a constrained timeline for what is traditionally an event requiring months of choreography. That compressed schedule, they say, has contributed to uncertainty about the scope of deliverables the two sides can credibly announce. "This feels like an ever-shrinking state visit. The ambition for what this trip will accomplish seems to be getting smaller by the day," said Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
U.S. agencies including the White House, the Treasury Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as well as China’s commerce and foreign ministries, did not provide comment on the summit’s prospects. A U.S. official said last month that the president is scheduled to visit China from March 31 to April 2; China has not formally confirmed the trip, though its top diplomat said the agenda for the exchange was "on the table." At a press briefing on the sidelines of an annual parliamentary meeting in Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, "What is required is for both sides to make thorough preparations to create a conducive environment to manage existing differences."
According to multiple people involved in planning, Washington only recently began holding interagency working-level meetings for the visit, which left little time to prepare the carefully staged sequence of events China typically expects for a state visit. U.S. officials view this meeting as one of up to four potential Trump-Xi summits this year, and discussions continue about objectives and sequencing.
In the run-up to the Beijing meeting, a delegation-level encounter in Paris this week is set to focus on potential deliverables, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent meeting Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss items that could be advanced in Beijing, a person familiar with the evolving preparations said.
Efforts to assemble a high-profile American corporate contingent have been uneven. Trump’s ambassador to Beijing, David Perdue, has advocated for bringing CEOs, and U.S. officials in China have made tentative outreach to companies. But the U.S. Trade Representative, which has co-led the summit agenda with Treasury, has been cautious about importing a large CEO presence, three sources said, preferring to emphasize a tightly managed approach to trade and deliverables.
That posture reflects a desire among some in the U.S. administration to avoid turning the visit into a broad commercial fray. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said last month that the summit’s purpose is "not to fight about trade," adding: "It’s to maintain stability, make sure that the Chinese are holding up their end of our deal and buying American agricultural products and Boeings and other things, and making sure they are sending us the rare earths that we need."
Tariffs remain one of the key unresolved issues that could affect talks. The U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down a 10% tariff related to fentanyl that had been imposed under an emergency statute; the U.S. administration has told Beijing it intends to reimpose the levy using different legal authority, according to a U.S. official. That dispute underscores the fragility of trade arrangements even as both sides focus on preventing renewed deterioration.
Investment security is another sticking point. Beijing has indicated it wants stronger guarantees for Chinese investments in the United States following recent forced divestitures, citing the high-profile case involving TikTok. Two sources said China is seeking assurances and security guarantees as a condition for making sizable investments in the U.S. market.
On potential commercial wins, a deal for roughly 500 narrow-body jets from Boeing is among the outcomes being discussed. Two people briefed on the negotiations said Beijing is seeking U.S. concessions tied to that purchase, including multi-year guarantees for parts. Any deliveries resulting from an agreement of that size would likely extend into the 2030s because of Boeing’s current production cadence and order backlog.
Administrators in Washington retain flexibility on timing and framing of such deals. One person with knowledge of the discussions said White House officials could defer the Boeing agreement to avoid having to make concessions to Beijing now, and instead could reserve certain announcements for a future summit held on U.S. soil. At the same time, sources say the administration has not pushed as aggressively to secure Chinese investment commitments in the United States as it has in other contexts with nations such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Some Republican lawmakers have cautioned Treasury Secretary Bessent against loosening U.S. guardrails on Chinese investment, reflecting bipartisan concern in Washington about the strategic and economic implications of large-scale foreign inflows without firm security safeguards.
There remains the possibility of a last-minute executive decision to assemble a CEO delegation to accompany the president. Three sources said the White House could still mobilize corporate leaders on short notice. The China Development Forum, which typically draws many top American executives, is scheduled for a week before the summit and could provide an opportunity for business outreach.
As it stands, the thrust of official preparation signals an effort to secure tangible commercial elements while avoiding large concessions or a full-scale reset of the investment and trade relationship. The result is likely to be a set of focused deliverables - agricultural purchases, potential aircraft orders and access to rare earth supplies - framed as steps to sustain bilateral stability rather than sweeping new agreements.
Market participants and corporate observers will be watching closely for how the administration balances near-term transactional wins with broader caution on investment protections, tariffs and the optics of a state visit conducted on compressed timelines.
Notable developments summarized:
- Preparations for the Trump-Xi summit are progressing on a compressed schedule, limiting the space for large-scale planning.
- U.S. officials have not finalized a high-profile CEO delegation; USTR has been cautious about such a delegation to keep the visit focused on managed trade.
- China seeks security guarantees for investments and concessions tied to potential Boeing purchases; deliveries, if agreed, would likely extend into the 2030s.