US, China seek Xi-Trump summit deliverables in New York talks

US, China seek Xi-Trump summit deliverables in New York talksBessent, Greer and He tackle the economy, AI safety days before the two leaders meet in Washington, D.C.3-MIN READ3-MIN0 ListenPublished: 10:34pm, 20 Sep 2026Updated: 11:53pm, 20 Sep 2026The leaders are meeting at JP Morgan’s headquarters in the city to discuss possible economic outcomes for the summit and begin their long-awaited dialogue on Artificial Intelligence safety and governance.FULL EVENT: Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with US President Donald TrumpMajor economic items on the agenda include discussions on renewing the Busan agreement on rare earths and the possible implementation of the China-board-of-trade" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="128910" data-entity-type="organization">US-China Board of Trade, which would create a tariff-reduced trade mechanism in non-sensitive sectors between the two sides.Last week, the China-morning-post" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12558" data-entity-type="organization">South China Morning Post reported that Washington and Beijing would fold AI discussions into a broader economic meeting.The two leaders agreed in Beijing in May to establish an intergovernmental dialogue on AI, which ran separately from the economic talks led by Bessent and He for months.The AI channel has struggled to make progress because the two sides differ over the meeting’s agenda and scope. The US side wanted to focus narrowly on AI safety and the technology’s risks, while China sought a broader conversation on global AI governance.On Tuesday, Bessent weighed in on the AI safety debate, highlighting the tension between addressing concerns about the risks posed by increasingly powerful AI systems and maintaining US competitiveness with China in the race for AI leadership.