GoKawiilFILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng shake hands during trade talks at OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) headquarters in Paris, France, March 16, 2026.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday he had a successful meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. this week.
The talks covered artificial intelligence and trade, among other issues ahead of Trump and Xi's Sept. 24 summit in Washington, D.C.
Bessent, emerging from the meeting alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, said the two sides had discussed setting up a "U.S.-China AI Dialogue," with the U.S. proposing the two countries set up a notification mechanism for incidents regarding AI.
The notification mechanism would be for incidents rising "up to a national security level from AI," he said.
"We think that just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important," he said.
Bessent's meeting with He also comes amid intensifying debate in Washington over the safety of AI and national security as the U.S. and China compete for technological leadership. The Trump administration has favored voluntary and national-security-focused safeguards over broad mandatory rules for AI developers. The issue is expected to be part of discussions between Xi and Trump during the Chinese president's visit.
Top AI executives have recently warned that the technology could quickly become out of control and poses sweeping new threats. They urged Washington to set guardrails and regulations on the industry, something Trump himself has derided.
Greer said the U.S. and China have "operationalized" the U.S.-China Board of Trade, to help facilitate trade negotiations by finding a "critical mass of goods" that could be considered separately "when and if there are trade measures" in the future.
Those goods could be "consumer goods, low-tech items" from the Chinese side and "energy products, agricultural goods, potentially medical devices" on the U.S. side, Greer said.