Musk to attend Trump-Xi state dinner as China tariffs loom
Elon Musk will attend Thursday's White House state dinner for Trump and Xi Jinping, alongside Sam Altman, Jensen Huang and other tech CEOs. With the US-China tariff truce set to expire November 10, chip access and tariffs are expected to top the agenda -- an outcome that matters directly to Tesla given its China business.
The White House is hosting a state dinner on the 24th (local time) for President Trump and President Xi Jinping, with eight Silicon Valley tech CEOs -- including Musk -- invited. Forbes puts their combined net worth at roughly $2.2 trillion.
Other invitees include Sam Altman (OpenAI), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Tim Cook (Apple), Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai (Google), Michael Dell and Jamie Dimon. The dinner falls during a week of US-China trade talks, with AI guardrails, chip export controls and tariffs expected to top the agenda.
The stakes are heightened because the US-China tariff truce reached earlier is set to expire November 10, making this dinner a potential turning point for whether it gets extended. China currently imposes a 100% tariff on US-bound EVs -- a policy that has, ironically, helped keep Chinese automakers out of the US market and benefited Tesla.
Musk's dinner appearance follows a CCTV interview the day before in which he called Xi a 'great leader' and praised the Shanghai Gigafactory team -- signaling goodwill toward both Washington and Beijing. With China representing a meaningful share of Tesla's business, shareholders should watch for any tariff or chip-related signals to emerge from the dinner.
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