The state visit by Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, so far has been long on pomp but short on substance on issues like artificial intelligence.
Andrew here. We’ve got a full rundown of the state dinner for Xi Jinping, China’s leader, and the C.E.O.s who made the pilgrimage to the White House. Many told me that they considered going an honor and liked the access, but some described it as a chore, given the frequent command-performance requests by the White House. Some worried that they might get even more invitations to be in Washington in the next two years if the House flips — to testify before Congress.
Two guests not necessarily among the usual suspects: Bernard Arnault and his son Alexandre of LVMH, representing a non-U.S. company (they were also at President Trump’s inauguration), and Jeff Yass, the billionaire financier and investor in ByteDance. A few executives’ spouses were invited, while most were not, prompting a lot of tea leaf reading.
