Key Points

• Ahead of the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the US and China have agreed to an official AI dialogue meant to build more transparency between the two countries.
• US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed an early-warning system for security-related AI incidents. Export restrictions on AI chips weren't part of the talks.
• President Trump continues to reject any deal to slow AI research, unwilling to fall behind in the tech race with China.

Ahead of the summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Washington, the US and China have agreed to a joint AI dialogue. A planned notification mechanism is meant to kick in when AI incidents touch on national security.

The US and China want to set up an official AI dialogue. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the move on Sunday after talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York, according to the Financial Times and The Information.

Bessent said he proposed a "notification mechanism" that would raise the alarm on AI incidents tied to national security. The dialogue is meant to help develop "a shared vision of common goals and common threats." Both sides plan another meeting to work out the details of the reporting system, The Information reports.

"We think that just like any cross-border activity, moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and number two AI powers in the world is very important," Bessent told reporters at JPMorgan's headquarters in Manhattan, where the delegations had negotiated for a full day.

The announcement comes after warnings from AI industry leaders that people could lose control of the technology unless research slows down. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer made clear, though, that export controls on advanced AI chips weren't on the agenda.

Alongside the AI dialogue, Greer said both sides formalized a "board of trade" that Trump and Xi had already discussed at their meeting in Beijing in May. "We just had a very successful engagement with the Chinese on trade and AI, completing where we left off in Beijing," Bessent said. "[In Beijing] we created the board of trade and began the subject of AI, and this evening those were operationalised."

A Washington summit under the shadow of the trade war

Trump is set to welcome Xi on Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews. The summit itself takes place Thursday in Washington and includes a state dinner. It's the first meeting between the two leaders on US soil since they got together in 2017.

One key topic is likely to be a possible extension of the trade truce both sides reached in October in Busan, South Korea. Back then, the US paused planned export controls against thousands of Chinese companies, while China delayed restrictions on rare earths. According to the Financial Times, China pushed for an extension through the end of Trump's term, while the US aimed to cap it at six months. Washington is worried that Beijing isn't keeping its rare earths commitments and is also limiting exports to Japan, which are just as critical for US supply chains.

Although US officials had floated an AI slowdown agreement between the two superpowers, Trump has rejected the idea given the AI race with China.