Leaders address technology as Washington and Beijing remain at odds over advanced chips and critical minerals US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, discussed cooperation on artificial intelligence during talks in Washington, underscoring the growing importance of the technology worldwide.
The meeting comes as the two countries compete for leadership in AI while negotiating advanced chips and critical materials, which were key points of contention in the White House last year for their White House visit. Trump said the talks would cover security, technology and “superintelligence” — his new term for AI. “The decisions we make in these areas now can advance peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come,” the US president said. Xi said China and the US “have a historic responsibility to advance human progress and development.”
“Both China and the United States are leading countries in artificial intelligence; we both have the ability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, and to ensure that AI development is always under human control and serves the interests of the people,” the Chinese president said. Beijing and Washington benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation, Xi added, stressing that the competition between the two countries should be a “win-win” rather than a “win-lose” one. Earlier this month, Trump singled out China as Washington’s main rival in the AI race, declaring that “whoever wins AI, wins.” Technology has increasingly become a source of friction between the two powers.
Washington restricted exports of advanced chips to China last year before allowing some sales to resume in exchange for a 15% share of the profits. Beijing, meanwhile, has imposed export controls on some rare earths and restricted their supply for foreign military use. China agreed to suspend some of the restrictions for a year following the Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea in October. Ahead of Thursday’s summit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their tariff truce for another two months. The arrangement keeps tariffs below the peaks reached last year in the trade war, when U.S. duties on Chinese imports climbed as high as 145% and Beijing’s tariffs on American goods reached 125%.