US and China agree $30bn tariff cuts and AI dialogue

At a three-day Washington summit that ended on Friday, September 25, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping committed the United States and China to seeking lower tariffs on $30 billion worth of non-sensitive trade flowing each way and beginning talks on artificial intelligence.²³⁴⁷

Tariff relief in both directions

The White House said the tariff recommendations would cover selected American exports and imports. Agricultural products, wood and cosmetics were listed among the US exports, while small appliances, toys and decorations were among the imports. The announcements did not specify tariff rates for individual products.³⁴⁵⁶

The countries further decided to create a trade council and build on the results of previous economic and trade talks held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said continuing the truce would provide more time to pursue a potentially broader trade agreement.³⁴⁵⁶

Reports differ over the precise status and timing of the trade truce. One account said the countries had moved to extend it by two months beyond its November 10 expiry, while other coverage disputed that formulation. China’s official account endorsed the trade teams’ work and an extension of the Kuala Lumpur outcomes but did not give a timetable.¹³⁴⁵

Additional economic measures reported after the summit included a working group on agricultural market-access barriers and a Board of Investment intended to discuss opportunities and investment obstacles. The countries also agreed to continue addressing US supply-chain concerns involving rare earths and other critical minerals.¹

Dialogue on emerging technology

Washington and Beijing established a bilateral dialogue to exchange views on the risks and benefits of AI, with the next exchange scheduled for November 2026. They also agreed to create a communication channel for incidents involving the technology.²³⁴⁵

The White House said the leaders agreed to use the term “super intelligence” in place of “artificial intelligence” for the relevant emerging technologies. China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing valued the US position and respected its terminology. One Chinese account described the mechanism as the China-US AI Dialogue, while a US description called it the US-China Super Intelligence Dialogue.¹²³⁶

The governments said that continued technological advances made greater exchanges and efforts to reach common ground necessary. The announced channel for AI-related incidents adds a separate means of bilateral communication alongside the planned policy discussions.²³⁴⁵

Other summit understandings

Trump and Xi said Iran must honour its pledge to refrain from developing nuclear weapons. They further stated that transit through international waterways must not be subject to tolls levied by any country, organisation or other entity.¹²³⁴

Each country committed to backing the other’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting and the Group of 20 summit, with Trump and Xi each planning to attend the event held by the other country. The Chinese and US armed forces further committed to finalising, at the earliest opportunity, a memorandum covering crisis prevention and communications.¹²³⁵

China’s official account said the two militaries would continue cooperating in searches for the remains of missing US service members in China. It also said counter-narcotics and law-enforcement cooperation had produced results, including joint work on cases involving new psychoactive substances and precursor chemicals; those details were reported only by the Chinese source.²

Xi returned to Beijing after the summit, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi characterised the visit as strengthening a constructive and stable bilateral relationship, while western reports emphasised the tariff package, the AI terminology and the role of direct diplomacy.³⁴⁵⁶