Trump, Xi to Consider AI Safety Alerts and Trade Truce Extension

President Donald Trump will host Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington this week for discussions centered on artificial intelligence, with the United States holding a clear lead in computing power and seeking practical channels to manage risks without slowing innovation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the two sides discussed a notification system for AI-related national security incidents during preparatory talks in New York, describing it as a move toward greater transparency between the top two AI powers.

Trump has framed the contest with China in terms of economic supremacy rather than shared global governance. In a Truth Social post, he called AI the next Industrial Revolution, potentially accounting for as much as 25 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, and stated the goal of staying ahead of China and the rest of the world. The administration plans to create an “AI Force” modeled on the Space Force and appoint an AI czar to oversee the sector. Trump has rejected calls for regulatory pauses, arguing that such steps would hand advantages to competitors.

Data from a recent United Nations report shows the United States controls 75 percent of global computing power among the top 500 AI supercomputers, while China accounts for 15 percent. This margin reflects years of private-sector investment and technological development rather than centralized direction. Trump has repeatedly warned that Democrats risk turning the country toward communist-style policies, using the term at recent Republican events to describe what he sees as radical shifts in state governments and federal priorities.

The summit arrives as the administration has taken equity stakes in select private firms to support economic activity, a step that draws criticism from some Republicans concerned about expanding government influence over business decisions. Such moves contrast with the administration’s public emphasis on limiting domestic regulation of emerging technologies. European countries and others have already enacted AI rules aimed at rights protections, yet Trump has maintained that U.S. dominance requires avoiding those constraints.

Bessent described the proposed notification mechanism as focused on cross-border incidents that could affect security, without committing to broader regulatory alignment. Chinese officials have not publicly endorsed the idea, and past distrust between the two governments has limited deeper cooperation. Experts note that any formal agreement on AI safety is unlikely to emerge from the single meeting, given differing views on whether slowing development serves one side’s interests more than the other.

Trump’s approach treats the AI contest primarily as a test of productive capacity and speed of adaptation. By keeping regulatory burdens low at home and pressing for basic communication tools with Beijing, the administration seeks to preserve the incentives that have produced the current U.S. lead. The outcome of the talks will hinge less on new international rules than on whether American firms continue to outpace rivals through investment and experimentation.