Chinese officials are considering including BYD founder Wang Chuanfu in the business delegation that will accompany Xi Jinping to Washington for his summit with Donald Trump on September 24, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
The South China Morning Post reported on Thursday that executives from Xiaomi, which makes fully electric and hybrid vehicles as well as phones and home appliances, are also likely to be part of the delegation.
If confirmed, BYD would be sending its founder to a country that taxes its cars at 100% and whose defence department placed the company on a list of Chinese military companies three months ago.
Nothing is confirmed. Both papers say the list can change, some candidates were still waiting on American visas, and no company or ministry has commented.
Bloomberg‘s report, citing people familiar with the matter, has senior officials including Xi’s chief of staff Cai Qi reviewing a list of business leaders for the state visit.
Its named candidate is BYD.
The South China Morning Post‘s report, from two unnamed sources, adds Xiaomi as likely and the others below as possible. The two accounts overlap on BYD and diverge on everything else, and the additional names rest on the SCMP alone.
One of the paper’s sources said representatives of Zhongji Innolight, which makes the optical transceivers used in artificial intelligence data centres, could also travel despite recent reports that the company faces American export restrictions. Bank of China, which already operates in the United States, might also be invited.
The second source said CATL could be on the list, and called a presence by the battery maker significant because of BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, the plant Ford is building with CATL technology under a licensing arrangement announced in 2023 and due to start operations this year.
The 1.8 million square foot site has drawn local and political opposition.
Some candidates were still waiting on American visas, Bloomberg and the Straits Times reported.
Eleven Years Since the Last One
Xi rarely travels with corporate executives, many of whom lost standing after the regulatory campaigns against technology, education and property companies that began in 2020.
The last time he brought a sizeable business group to the United States was 2015, a party of about 15 companies that included Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Tencent founder Pony Ma alongside bank and state-enterprise executives.
That visit produced an agreement for 300 Boeing aircraft valued at about $38 billion at list prices, and meetings with Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.
Reuters reported on September 4 that Xi was preparing a large delegation for this trip and described the move as unusual. A White House official told the agency at the time that it was “not tracking a Chinese CEO delegation.”
The choreography is reciprocal. Trump took about 18 executives to Beijing in May, a group of 17 named in advance with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang added in transit and Tesla’s Elon Musk among them, and invited Xi to Washington during that visit.
BYD in the United States
The United States has charged a 100% tariff on Chinese-built electric vehicles since September 27, 2024, announced that May, and BYD sells no cars there.
In June the Pentagon added the company to its list of Chinese military companies over alleged links to the People’s Liberation Army. BYD denies supporting the Chinese military.
Bloomberg’s sources described three selection criteria: a potential American deal in progress, loyalty to the Communist Party, and an ability not to draw attention away from Xi. Those are the sources’ account of the process rather than published rules.
On the first of them, BYD has no American vehicle business.
The company has a bus and truck plant in Lancaster, California, opened in 2012 and expanded since, but no passenger car presence and no announced plan for one.
Xiaomi is a carmaker as well as a phone and appliance maker, and its position is different again.
It launched its first car, the SU7 saloon, in 2024 and followed with the YU7 sport utility vehicle and this month the SkyNomad N90.
Its first move outside China is Europe, where it has signed agreements with German dealers ahead of a launch next year that it describes as its first major international expansion. It has announced no plans for the United States.
CATL is the reverse case.
It has no consumer profile in the United States, but it has a deal: the Michigan plant Ford is building under licence, which starts up this year and which drew congressional scrutiny when it was announced.
The Timing on the Other Side of the World
The SCMP‘s report arrived the same day Brussels was reported by the Financial Times to have asked Beijing to voluntarily cap Chinese hybrid exports to Europe, threatening its own restrictions if China refused.
BYD’s position in both markets rests on the same shift. Its domestic sales fell 33% in the first eight months of the year while overseas sales rose 86% to 1,162,260 vehicles.
It shipped a record 189,466 cars abroad in August, and its first-half revenue split implies that a majority came from outside China for the first time.
Europe is where the volume has gone. The United States is the one large market it cannot enter.
The Summit
Xi is due in Washington for a meeting with Trump and a state dinner on September 24. Trump has said Peng Liyuan will accompany him.
The two sides announced formal mechanisms for managing trade and investment in May, described as a Board of Trade and a Board of Investment.
Beijing is reported to be using the delegation to press for progress on the investment side, offering Chinese companies still willing to invest in America, though expectations remain low given the regulatory barriers to Chinese investors.
Securing more rare earth export licences for American companies is among Washington’s main priorities for the summit, Reuters reported, citing sources.
Chinese officials have characterised the May understanding as capping new tariffs on Chinese goods at around 20%, reaffirming the Busan arrangement of October 2025.
Earlier Section 301 layers remain in place and stacked rates on many goods are higher. A new 12.5% Section 301 line took effect after separate tariffs expired in July.
