US and China set up AI safety channel after Trump-Xi summit

The United States and China agreed on Friday to extend their trade truce, trim tariffs on roughly $30 billion of non-sensitive goods and establish a new channel for handling artificial intelligence incidents, after a three-day summit in Washington between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.¹³⁶

Limited tariff relief, extended truce

Most of the tariff reductions apply to non-sensitive goods such as agricultural products and holiday decorations, according to the White House and Chinese statements.¹³⁶

According to China's Foreign Ministry, both countries settled on lowering tariffs by roughly $30 billion on non-essential goods for each side, while the South China Morning Post reported that the two sides agreed on recommendations for more favourable tariff treatment covering the same amount of goods in each direction under a newly created Board of Trade. The White House said the Board of Trade began operating this week.³⁵¹

According to the White House, China committed to purchasing a minimum of 10 million metric tons of American coal during 2027 and 2028, and both sides would keep working on US concerns over China's rare earth export controls. Washington also urged Beijing to raise production of refined petroleum products and take further steps against fentanyl precursor flows, welcoming China's move to impose export controls on two additional such chemicals.¹³⁵

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the trade arrangement will remain in effect until January. Deutsche Welle reported that the truce, which Trump and Xi originally struck in Busan last October, had been set to lapse on November 10, and had involved China pausing rare earth controls in exchange for a US rollback of some tariffs.³

AI channel and a dispute over terms

Both governments said they will set up a communication mechanism to discuss AI-related incidents, risks and benefits, with a dedicated AI dialogue scheduled for November. China's Foreign Ministry confirmed the channel as part of an eight-point consensus from the summit.¹³⁷

The White House said the two leaders had agreed to use the term "super intelligence" rather than artificial intelligence, a preference Trump has voiced before. Trump said there would be limits on what the United States shares with China and insisted Washington had no intention of easing off its AI push, adding that the US leads China by at least a year, and by some estimates as much as two.¹

Trump posted online that "The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades." Xi Jinping remarked that "both countries have strong AI capabilities" and contended that "the right path is not to guard against each other but to draw on each other's strengths."⁴²

The South China Morning Post noted that the establishment of a super intelligence dialogue, alongside the AI incident channel, may prove more significant for the relationship than the trade measures announced at the same summit.⁵

Military ties, Iran and Taiwan

China's Foreign Ministry said the two sides agreed to accelerate work on military crisis communications and to sign a memorandum of understanding aimed at preventing crises between the two militaries. AP linked this step to the new AI incident mechanism and to ongoing negotiations through the Board of Trade.³¹⁶

Trump confirmed the Iran war was discussed during the talks, though no major breakthroughs were reported on that issue. According to China's Foreign Ministry, the two sides concurred that Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons and that no nation should levy passage fees on international waterways, an apparent reference to the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has fallen since the US war with Iran began.³

According to ChosunBiz, Xi urged the United States to oppose Taiwan independence and handle the issue prudently, while David Perdue said US Taiwan policy and wording had not changed. The same report cited Reuters as saying advanced semiconductor sales were left off the table in this round of talks, and quoted US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer as saying "there is virtually no discussion of semiconductors in these talks," while also noting he had called chips "like the crown jewels and a means to lead in the race for superintelligence."²

What comes next

Xi returned to Beijing on Saturday after the visit, according to Xinhua as cited by CBS/AP reporting. CBS and AP both described the summit as producing incremental mechanisms rather than major breakthroughs, though analysts said the new working groups could help prevent disputes from escalating.¹⁶

The two leaders are scheduled for two further encounters this year, starting with the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November, followed by a G20 summit in December expected to take place at Trump's National Doral Miami golf club, according to Deutsche Welle and ChosunBiz.³²

Historian Rana Mitter said "this may be the peak of U.S.-China détente," while cautioning that "in terms of substantive policy change, we haven't yet reached the peak."²