The United States has proposed that Washington and Beijing notify each other of artificial intelligence (AI) incidents that are serious enough to be considered national security events. The idea was proposed by Treasury Secretary Scott Besantto Chinese officials during talks in Manhattan on Sunday.
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Scott Bessant and Jamieson Greer, the trade representative, met with He Lifeng, the vice president, and Li Chenggang, the trade negotiator, at JPMorgan headquarters, as the bank granted them the space because General Assembly security was going to close off much of the center.
JPMorgan is not involved in the talks, and the working groups continued to meet through Monday. Bessant stressed the importance of moving “from opacity to more transparency between the No. 1 and No. 2 AI powers in the world.” He presented it as a channel of communication rather than something resembling a treaty.
Jamieson Greer noted that export controls on AI chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment were exempted, something Beijing has been more adamant about reinstating. Nikkei reported that the US side intended to highlight AI-driven cyberattacks and the misuse of agent systems, and to ask laboratories on both sides to share threat intelligence.
Li said the talks were “not bad” and confirmed that AI was among the topics. A Xinhua report described frank and constructive exchanges and listed AI-related issues along with trade and investment, without mentioning the U.S. proposal. Beijing has not said whether it accepts the proposal, and Chinese officials have not described the mechanism. Both sides agreed to meet again on AI, but have not set a date, place or format.
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On the trade front, Greer said the Trade Council, which was agreed in principle during Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, “is up and running.” Its purpose is to negotiate tariff reductions on goods that neither government considers strategic, energy or agricultural on the U.S. list. No percentages or product lists were disclosed.
It all boils down to two key dates, both set for November 10. On that day, the tariff truce expires and the suspension of rare earth export controls from China, which has been in place since last October, also expires.
These issues have not been resolved in New York, and American manufacturers say magnet shipments are still arriving in quantities too small to be useful.
Bessant made the proposal five days after telling the House Financial Services Committee that the best guarantee of safety is that “creators are responsible for what they manufacture and produce,” rejecting the liability shields that American labs have called for.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said that week that requests combining regulation with antitrust relief set off “all my alarms.”
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Sunday's tour was in preparation for Thursday, when Xi Jinping is expected at the White House. Executives from BYD, CATL and Xiaomi may travel with him. Until last week, Beijing had not officially confirmed the visit.
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