The leaders have addressed the technology as Washington and Beijing remain at odds over advanced chips and critical minerals
US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have discussed cooperation on artificial intelligence during talks in Washington, stressing the technology’s growing global importance.
The meeting came as the two countries compete for leadership in AI while negotiating over advanced chips and critical materials, which became key bargaining points in their trade dispute last year.
Welcoming Xi to the White House for a state visit, Trump said the talks would cover security, technology and “superintelligence” – his new term for AI.
“The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come,” the US president said.
Xi said China and the US “bear a historic responsibility to promote human development and progress.”
“Both China and the United States are leading nations in artificial intelligence; we have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people,” the Chinese president said.
Beijing and Washington stand to benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation, Xi added, stressing that competition between the two countries should be a “race” rather than a fight “in which one either wins or loses.”
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 later allowing some sales to resume in exchange for a 15% share of the revenue. Beijing, meanwhile, imposed export controls on several rare earths and restricted their supply for foreign military use.
China has agreed to suspend some of the restrictions for a year following a Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea last October.
Ahead of Thursday’s summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their tariff truce by another two months. The arrangement has kept tariffs well below the peaks reached during last year’s trade war, when US duties on Chinese imports climbed as high as 145% and Beijing’s levies on American goods reached 125%.
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