Donald Trump and Xi Jinping look at Marine One on the new helipad on the White House South Lawn, 24 September 2026
The US and China will hold a regular dialogue on super intelligence and set up a channel for incidents. The White House announced the deal in a fact sheet on Xi Jinping’s state visit. Both leaders agreed to call the technology “super intelligence” rather than artificial intelligence.
“The two countries established the U.S.-China Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue to exchange views on risks and benefits related to SI,” the White House said.
The next exchange will take place by November 2026. The two countries also agreed on a bilateral communication channel for SI incidents. The fact sheet does not say what would count as an incident.
A channel for incidents
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent focused on setting up the channel at talks with Chinese officials before the summit, Axios reported. At those talks, the US proposed an alert system for AI incidents that count as national security threats.
Trump prefers the term “super intelligence”. He used it when he addressed the UN this month.
Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the dialogue has limits.
“The United States is committed to diplomacy and dialogue on super intelligence. But international dialogue cannot be allowed to drift toward global governance,” Kratsios wrote on X.
He added that the US rejects any attempt to build “a globalist scheme of control” for the technology. The US has also asked the G20 not to govern AI.
Trade and coal
The fact sheet also covers trade. The two countries agreed on lower tariffs for $30bn of non-sensitive goods in each direction. China will import at least 10 million tonnes of US coal in 2027 and again in 2028.
Talks on rare earths and other critical minerals are still under way. Xi ended the visit with the trade truce extended to January.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
