Trade truce and AI talks
The United States and China agreed to extend their trade truce for two months as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived for his first state visit in eleven years, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announcing the extension.
Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, landed at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington just before 6:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, and Donald Trump shook hands with the couple as Bessent set a new deadline of January 10 for the year-old trade deal.
Bessent told Fox News, “I don’t know if a broader deal can be reached,” as the two governments also prepared to discuss artificial intelligence alongside trade.
China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed that its senior trade negotiators held their first talks with the U.S. on artificial intelligence, and spokesperson He Yadong said the two sides also discussed plans for reducing tariffs and extending trade arrangements agreed in Kuala Lumpur last October.
He Yadong said the two sides discussed plans for reducing tariffs and extending trade arrangements agreed in Kuala Lumpur last October, as Trump wrote that “Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion” and said his “guardrail is the DOJ!”
Welcome, ceremony, and controversy
Trump opened the White House to Xi Jinping for a historic summit after more than a decade without Xi visiting the North American presidential seat, and the meeting began at 11 o’clock. Trump framed the relationship in personal terms in his opening remarks, saying, “Since my first election in 2016, President Xi and I have forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, built on mutual respect and the vital interests of our peoples.” Xi responded by calling for limits on competition, saying, “Competition must be healthy and must stay within limits,” and he also urged avoiding major confrontations with “Undoubtedly we must maintain a line of zero conflict and zero confrontation.”
Major American television networks decided to boycott official joint coverage in protest of Trump’s decision to revoke press credentials from MSNBC, CNN, and Politico reporters, and the boycott triggered a legal battle. Senator Roger Wicker criticized the honor guard for Xi, saying, “Frankly, if the White House had asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a sumptuous welcome”.
What comes next for both
The talks put artificial intelligence and the trade truce at the center of the agenda, with Bessent confirming the extension and the official noting the possibility of reaching a broader deal in January or arranging a new extension.
The Associated Press reported that Xi wants Trump to permanently halt arms sales to Taiwan and loosen export restrictions on cutting-edge advanced chips, while the two sides agreed to extend the truce by two months beyond its Nov. 10 expiration as they seek a more durable agreement.
NPR described Trump’s Truth Social post that he wanted to leave artificial intelligence “exactly where it is,” and it quoted Bessent saying Washington and Beijing were discussing ways to warn each other about AI incidents that pose national security risks.
NPR also reported that the Congressional Research Service estimates the U.S. average tariff rate on China in July at more than 36% and China’s average rate on U.S. goods hovering around 30%, underscoring that the truce did not end high tariffs.
Edgard Kagan said the U.S. president believes “over time the U.S. economy is going to grow” and that the U.S. will develop alternative sources of critical minerals and rare earths, while he said Xi believes the U.S. is “in hurtling decline” and that time is on China’s side.
