In 1983, a delegation consisting of Peter Wallenberg Sr. and the Wallenberg CEOs Curt Nicolin of ASEA (ABB) and Hans Werthén of Electrolux, met with Minister of Finance Donald Regan on the issue of world trade, restrictions on steel, etc. It was reported that the Minister of Finance was optimistic. The Americans raised the issue of the difficulty for foreign banks to establish themselves in Sweden. The restrictions annoyed the Americans. In September 1987, Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson officially visited President Ronald Reagan. The visit began with a welcome ceremony and ended with festive dinner in the White House. Ingvar Carlsson had avoided to include industrial directors in his official delegation which instead consisted of one opera singer, Birgitta Svendén, a Nobel laureate, Bengt Samuelsson, and tennis player Björn Borg. But guests at the dinner in the White House were both Peter Wallenberg Sr. and P.G. Gyllenhammar. Ingvar Carlsson said much later that he did not know how they had got on the guest list.
