China accorded US President Trump a high-profile ceremonial welcome on November 8, 2017, with a red carpet, full military band, children waving flags and dinner at Zhongnanhai.  A US administration official said the White House expects to announce upwards of $250 billion in business deals in China this week. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross boasted of that number in a meeting with chief executives in China on November 8. He announced US$ 9 billion in deals involving about 20 companies, with energy and industrial businesses featured prominently. They included industrial giants such as DowDuPont Inc, Honeywell International Inc., General Electric Co. and Bell Helicopter. Many of the agreements involved existing Chinese partners.

One of the biggest deals currently being negotiated is a multibillion-dollar energy investment from China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. that would bring thousands of new jobs to hurricane-ravaged areas in Texas and the U.S. Virgin Islands. According to Bloomberg News, the companies tentatively listed as working on China-related deals in conjunction with the trip include Westinghouse Electric Co., Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the Boeing Co. and Qualcomm Inc., General Electric and Honeywell. Other companies that may have deals in progress include Cheniere Energy Inc., Terex Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Applied Materials Inc.and Blackstone Group.

Details of a Texas oil pipeline project in the hurricane zones in Texas and the Virgin Islands are yet to be finalized, but Sinopec is in negotiations on a US$ 7 billion deal to partner with ArcLight Capital, a Boston-based infrastructure investment firm, and Freepoint Commodities LLC, a Connecticut commodity trading firm. The project would include construction of a 700-mile pipeline from the Permian oil field in western Texas to the Gulf Coast, as well as a storage facility there.