Bessent, He hold 9-hour talks ahead of Trump-Xi summit, agree on AI incident notifications

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in New York on Sunday (local time) ahead of a US-China summit scheduled for Thursday at the White House, seeking to align positions on trade, AI and Taiwan before the two leaders sit down.

Emerging from talks with the Chinese delegation at JPMorgan Chase's Manhattan headquarters that afternoon, Bessent told reporters the two sides had held "very successful consultations" on trade and AI, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.

China's side also described the Bessent-He meeting as having proceeded "constructively." State-run Xinhua News Agency reported that He met with Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and that the discussions were conducted on the basis of important agreements reached by the two countries' leaders, guided by principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and cooperation for mutual benefit.

The Chinese side said the two countries exchanged frank, in-depth and constructive views on major economic and trade issues, including implementing agreements reached in previous negotiations and promoting bilateral trade and investment. It added that the talks also covered AI-related matters, an area where competition between the two powers has intensified and where some have called for a slowdown in development.

While the Trump administration has opposed calls for an AI slowdown — citing concerns that China could overtake the United States technologically — Bessent said he proposed establishing a mutual notification system for AI-related incidents. The two sides agreed to continue their AI dialogue, he said.

"I think it's very important that the world's No. 1 and No. 2 AI powers move forward with transparency rather than opacity," Bessent said. On the mutual notification system for AI incidents, he added that it was intended "to determine whether an incident rises to the level of national security," and that "we hope to share a vision of common goals and common threats."

Bessent said the two sides had agreed to meet again but did not provide further details on the timing or format of a follow-up meeting.

Greer, who also participated in the talks, said the meeting marked the activation of a bilateral trade commission. The commission was agreed upon at a US-China summit held in Beijing in May and is tasked with identifying tariff items that could be eliminated for the economic benefit of both countries without significantly affecting national security. At the time, products such as home appliances and toys were cited as likely candidates.

Greer said consumer goods, low-technology products, energy products and agricultural goods could be placed on the trade commission's agenda.

He did not separately address reporters as he left the meeting venue.

The high-level meeting was convened to allow the two countries' economic chiefs to align their positions ahead of the summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, set for Thursday at the White House in Washington. The talks began around 10:30 a.m. Eastern time and ran past 7 p.m.

"This meeting will lay the groundwork for a successful summit," Greer told reporters.

Some analysts suggested the Trump administration had delayed measures that could provoke Beijing in order to prevent the summit from falling apart or bilateral relations from deteriorating. A prominent example is the announcement of overcapacity tariffs currently under investigation by the USTR. The office, which is probing trading partners' overcapacity practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act, is said to have pushed back the timing of its findings, mindful that China could retaliate against any resulting punitive tariffs. The South China Morning Post also reported Saturday that the United States was considering delaying a major arms sale decision to Taiwan until year-end, ahead of Xi's visit to the US.