Chinese President Xi Jinping Is Already In Washington. Bessent Says a Trade Truce Has Been Extended.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. and China have extended a trade truce for two months as President Xi Jinping begins a state visit in Washington.

Bessent said that the truce, which was agreed on last October in South Korea and was set to expire in November, has been pushed to January 10.

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong did not confirm the remarks but said parties had discussed trade matters. The spokesperson also said that senior trade negotiators have held the first talks with the U.S. on artificial intelligence.

Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng before the summit, saying afterward that officials discussed a "dialogue" related to AI development, with Washington proposing a mechanism where one party would notify the other when an incident that could have national security implications takes place.

"We think that just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important," Bessent said earlier this week.

The AI discussions come as both governments face growing pressure to address the risks associated with rapidly advancing artificial intelligence systems while maintaining their competitive positions.

The Trump administration has rejected calls from some technology leaders and researchers to slow AI development, arguing that the United States must continue advancing quickly in competition with China.

Trump has openly rejected pacing the development of AI, which is already reaching a state that he called "super intelligence."

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said he's "not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the industrial revolution."

"Many say it will be bigger, or than the internet itself. We'll be very careful. We already have the DOJ and other law enforcement bodies that will rein things in if we have to. We'll only encourage super intelligence," Trump added, in reference to his decision to create an "AI Force" that will include the appointment of an "AI Czar."

In turn, the executives behind two of the world's leading artificial intelligence companies warned the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that the technology they are developing could eventually escape human control and pose a threat to humanity unless governments establish international safeguards.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged world leaders to introduce stronger oversight of increasingly powerful AI systems, warning that the rapid pace of technological development could outstrip humanity's ability to manage the risks.

"If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole," Amodei told the Security Council during a high-level meeting held alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "We could lose control of the future to AI," Altman warned.