The White House said that the three-course menu, including sea bass and bok choy, featured American ingredients with a “subtle Chinese influence.”
Page F2From§Eachthe supper edition — 24 September 2026
Trump eases tariffs on foreign beef over rancher revolt, then serves Xi and $2.2 trillion in CEOs fish
As it ran on the front
Three courses, and not a gram of beef among them. You are thinking oversight — a chef's whim, a courtesy to the guest. It is a state menu, and a state menu is not cooking. It is a published document: sesame-crusted sea bass, bok choy, a White House honey dessert, American ingredients with, the first lady's office said, "subtle Chinese influence." Subtle, mind you. Expected at that table, and expected is the word the reporting uses, were Musk, Altman, Huang, Zuckerberg, Pichai, Nadella — six men Forbes weighs at $2.2 trillion between them. Two point two, for a pescatarian evening.
The beef was elsewhere. Trump announced last month that tariffs on foreign beef would be temporarily eased — eased, held in abeyance ... not repealed — to increase supply and lower the price of meat for consumers. On September 5 he pushed ahead through the cattlemen's objections. And who takes the criticism for the cheaper meat? The ranchers, and then the lawmakers of rural states, furious by September 19 and facing reelection, pressing him in public today. Democrats and independents got a rare opening with rural voters out of it.…
…(cont) The cattlemen carry the price. The table ate fish.
Another man's field the borrowed horse plows. The horse is fed last.
“They sold you cheap foreign beef as a favor to your grocery bill — and then the big night comes and there is no beef on the plate at all. Sea bass and bok choy for a room where six guys are worth $2.2 trillion between them. The rancher in a farm state eats the price and his senator eats the phone calls; nobody at that dinner ate anything they paid for.”
“It is a pescatarian menu, that is a dietary courtesy to a visiting head of state, it is not a signal about cattle policy. Did I say signal? That doesn't sound like me. And the tariff relief is temporary — temporary — the President signed orders to soften the blow for ranchers, so I don't know why we're litigating a dessert.”
Earlier in this story
- Men who warn AI could end humanity dine with Trump and Xi, worth $2.2 trillion combined By Sal · the early bird edition, 24 September 2026
The receipts
The historic state dinner features "American ingredients with subtle Chinese influence," according to first lady Melania Trump's office.
The move to import foreign beef infuriated Republicans in farm states facing tough reelections — and gave Democrats and independents a rare opening with rural voters.
The 2025 reconciliation law cut SNAP by $187 billion — the largest cut in the program's history, feeding one in five American children Congressional Budget Office estimate, via CBPP SNAP tracker
Trump faces pressure from rural state lawmakers over beef importsPresident Donald Trump’s move to boost beef imports is rankling lawmakers in rural states, who are taking criticism from domestic ranchers. Trump announced last month that he would be temporarily easing tariffs on beef in an effort to increase supply of the meat on the market and thus lower prices for consumers. The action was […]
President Donald Trump's state dinner with Xi Jinping features a pescatarian menu with sesame-crusted sea bass and White House honey dessert.
The combined net worth of the tech executives expected to attend US President Donald Trump's private dinner Thursday night with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is around $2 trillion , underscoring the staggering wealth and political influence of the small group of moguls poised to profit immensely from rapid developments in…
President Trump was charmer-in-chief Thursday as he hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House.
· Trump faces down beef backlash. Will import plan pay off? from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.