The United States and China are set to deepen discussions on artificial intelligence risks while maintaining their competition for global technological leadership, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
Bessent said both countries must recognise their differences and avoid assuming that their interests would always align as they explore ways to manage the risks associated with advanced AI systems.
He made the remarks on Tuesday during the 60th anniversary gala dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York, ahead of his planned trip to China next week with President Donald Trump.
Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Shenzhen, scheduled for November 18 and 19.
According to Bessent, the meeting will advance a new bilateral dialogue on what the Trump administration calls “superintelligence”, a term used to describe highly advanced artificial intelligence systems.
He said the proposed dialogue would focus on identifying shared risks, preventing misunderstandings between the two countries and establishing ways to respond to serious AI-related incidents.
“We also expect to exchange best practices for evaluating and testing advanced models before their release, and for keeping human judgment firmly in command of this technology,” Bessent said in prepared remarks.
He added that Washington and Beijing had agreed to establish a direct communication channel through which they could alert each other to serious incidents involving the technology.
Trump and Xi reached an agreement on the proposed AI alert system during their previous meeting at the White House in September.
However, Trump had expressed reluctance at the time to introduce additional safeguards, saying he wanted to preserve America’s leadership in artificial intelligence.
Bessent said the rapid advancement of AI would make cooperation on risk management increasingly important, even as both countries compete for dominance in the technology.
“As SI advances, so will the need to engage in new areas of risk management — and to demonstrate how two nations can reconcile the demands of competition with the responsibilities of leadership,” he said.
He, however, cautioned against overlooking the differences between Washington and Beijing.
“As I stated earlier, our interests will not always coincide. And our approach to every challenge, likewise, will not always converge,” Bessent added.
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Beyond artificial intelligence, the two leaders are expected to discuss trade arrangements agreed during their previous meetings, including mutual tariff reductions on $30bn worth of non-sensitive goods in each direction.
Bessent said a proposed “Board of Trade” would help determine the tariff cuts, while a separate “Board of Investment” would provide a platform for discussing market access for American companies in China and greater predictability for Chinese businesses.
China has also pledged to purchase American agricultural products as part of efforts to ease trade tensions.
Bessent acknowledged that the US trade deficit with China remained a major source of friction but said Washington was seeking to reduce its exposure to trade risks without completely severing economic ties.
“The US objective is to de-risk, not to decouple,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bessent’s remarks did not address the controversy surrounding Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, whose company’s board is investigating reports that he had a relationship with a businesswoman suspected by US security services of having links to Chinese intelligence.
China’s foreign ministry has dismissed the allegations as groundless, describing them as a smear.
Nvidia has said its board has no reason to believe that US national security or company secrets were compromised and that Huang would cooperate with the internal review.
It remains unclear whether Huang will accompany Trump to the APEC summit, having attended the US president’s previous meetings with Xi in Beijing in May and Washington in September.
A fourth meeting between Trump and Xi is expected in December during the US-hosted G20 summit in Miami.
About the Author
Cecilia Attah is a tech analyst with a degree from Benue State University. She covers tech news and startups at TechRegard with a focus on how technology is transforming Africa and shaping the global landscape.
