WASHINGTON — The US proposed setting up an alert exchange system with China for national security-related issues in artifical intelligence Sunday, while the two sides punted on a long-term extension of the fragile trade truce between the two powers, which is set to expire in November.
“The most important thing is just to start talking and so we have set up the AI dialogue. We will
likely meet again in two months,” Bessent told the Financial Times after an hours-long meeting with his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, at JPMorgan Chase headquarters in midtown Manhattan ahead of this week’s United Nations General Assembly.
The notification system would likely be modeled on the Washington-Moscow hotline set up during the Cold War to allow direct communication between the Pentagon and Kremlin. During the talks with He, Bessent reportedly emphasized US concerns about AI agents going rogue and creating biological or other kinds of weapons.
The American proposal was made public days after leading AI companies called for a global slowdown in its development, citing concerns about the technology going rogue.
President Trump has publicly rejected calls for an AI deceleration, warning that it would be a boon for Beijing in the race to dominate the critical sector.
Some critics, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have called for US cooperation with China as the top companies work on making their systems recursively self-improving.
Many of China’s top companies have open AI models, which allow outsiders to make suggestions for improvement, while the leading US firms largely employ proprietary frontier models.
Also leading the agenda Sunday was the trade truce, which is set to expire on Nov. 10, with Bessent telling the FT that “both sides want to maintain the stability of the past year.”
Trump had sparked a trade war with China early in his second term by slapping triple-digit tariffs on Beijing, which retaliated in kind.
Both sides later de-escalated, then reached a formal agreement this past November.
The US has suggested the truce be extended for half a year, but China wants it extended for the remainder of Trump’s term, according to the Financial Times.
Trump himself will host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit Thursday, the first time that Xi has set foot on US soil since 2023.
