Xi says China will ‘open wider’ to U.S. businesses
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attends the state banquet for US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping told American CEOs traveling with President Donald Trump that the door to business in China will “open wider.”
“Xi said US companies are deeply involved in China’s reform and opening-up, and both sides benefit from it,” state-backed newspaper Xinhua reported.
“Noting that China’s door will open even wider, Xi stated that China welcomes the US’s development of mutually beneficial cooperation with China and believes that US companies will have even wider opportunities in China.”
Tesla’s and SpaceX boss Elon Musk, NvidiaCEO Jensen Huang and Apple CEO Tim Cook was among the top tech executives who traveled to China with Trump. According to Xinhua’s report, Trump introduced each of them to Xi one by one.
“US entrepreneurs said they attach great importance to the Chinese market and hope to deepen their business activities in China and strengthen cooperation with China,” the newspaper said.
The White House’s post on X appeared to respond to sensitivity about market access.
“The two sides discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation between the countries, including expanding market access for American businesses to China and increasing Chinese investment,” the White House said. he said. Description of X.
Xi’s comments were “a strong statement to global companies to continue investing in China,” George Chen, partner and co-head of the digital practice at The Asia Group, told CNBC.
“I think Xi’s statement on opening up is not just for propaganda purposes. China needs to remain attractive for foreign investments.”
Artificial intelligence in focus
Both China and the US are developing artificial intelligence at a rapid pace.
The US has sought to isolate China from various technologies that could improve the country’s artificial intelligence, including Nvidia chips. China doubles domestic tech supply chain local semiconductor companies are stepping in to fill the gap.
Artificial intelligence models from companies such as China’s Alibaba have been able to compete with some of the technologies introduced by leading companies in the United States
On Thursday, Reuters reported that Washington had given Nvidia the green light to supply one of its more advanced products, the H200, to some tech companies in China.
Nvidia has been subject to export restrictions to China, but there have been multiple reports over the past year suggesting the US might allow the company to sell chips to the country. However, none of this seems to have happened, as China has reportedly been encouraging local companies to purchase domestic semiconductors.
Asked by CNBC’s Joe Kernen about Nvidia’s report on its H200s, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “This is news to me.”
“I know there’s a lot of back and forth… and we’ll have to see. That’s a commerce department’s job,” Bessent added.
Huang, who joined the China trip late, described the meeting in Beijing as “one of the most important summits in human history” in his statement to journalists. But he declined to comment on Nvidia’s chip sales in China; instead, he said, Trump and Xi struck a pleasant tone.
“Today’s morning ceremony was very uplifting. President Xi was very inspiring, very welcoming, and President Trump was very inspiring and very welcoming,” Huang said.
Bessent told CNBC that China and the United States will work together on a security protocol on “best practices for artificial intelligence to ensure that non-state actors cannot hijack these models.”
