In the days before two of the world's most consequential leaders were to meet face to face, their economic stewards gathered quietly in Manhattan to map the terrain. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met at JPMorgan Chase headquarters to prepare the ground for a Trump-Xi summit at the White House — only the second such encounter this year, and Xi's first visit to that address in over a decade. The conversations touched on the twin forces reshaping the global order: trade and artificial intelligence, each carrying its own weight of uncertainty and possibility.
Bessent, Chinese officials lay groundwork for Trump-Xi summit with trade, AI talks
Moving from opaque to more transparency between the two top AI powers
Mark
So Bessent and He Lifeng met on Sunday, and then Trump and Xi meet Thursday. That's a very tight timeline. What was actually decided in that JPMorgan meeting?
Mimi
They didn't make final decisions—they laid groundwork. The key things were agreeing to a notification mechanism for AI security incidents and identifying which goods could be traded without triggering national security concerns. Consumer goods, energy, agriculture, medical devices potentially.
Luke
But what does "notification mechanism" actually mean? Is it binding? Is there enforcement? The reporting says they agreed to meet again on AI, which sounds like they didn't actually resolve much.
Mimi
That's fair. The source doesn't specify enforcement details. It's more about establishing a framework for transparency—moving from what Bessent called "opaque" to "more transparent." But you're right that the real work seems to be ahead.
Mark
And the board of trade—is that new, or was it already operating?
Mimi
The source says it's "newly operationalized," so it sounds recent. Its job is to identify non-sensitive goods that can move between the countries in a balanced way.
Luke
"Balanced way" is doing a lot of work there. The source doesn't define what balanced means or whether there's disagreement about what qualifies as non-sensitive. That's probably where the real tension is.
Mark
What about the AI regulation question? Khanna seemed to think that was urgent.
Mimi
He did. He said it should be the first agenda item at the summit—and he was specific about what he wanted: international monitoring, data center inspections, enforceable tools. But the source doesn't say whether Trump or Xi have committed to that framework.
Luke
Right. Khanna is a congressman making a proposal. There's no indication the administration has adopted it or that China has responded to it. It's a suggestion, not a plan.
Mark
So Thursday's summit could go a lot of different ways.
Mimi
Exactly. Bessent and Greer set some structure, but the actual negotiations—on tariffs, on AI standards, on the expiring trade agreement, on critical minerals—those happen when Trump and Xi sit down.
The Pulse
- With a presidential summit days away, both sides faced pressure to show that diplomacy between the world's two largest economies could still produce tangible results.
- The artificial intelligence question crackled with urgency — industry leaders, lawmakers, and both governments recognizing that without agreed standards, the race between the two leading AI powers risked spiraling beyond anyone's control.
- A newly operational 'board of trade' was stood up to identify goods safe enough to cross borders without triggering national security alarms, a practical attempt to carve out zones of cooperation within a deeply competitive relationship.
- Both delegations were careful to frame their work as preparation for the presidents — not a deal in itself, but the scaffolding that might allow Trump and Xi to build something more durable.
- The summit's agenda — expiring trade agreements, critical minerals, and AI governance — signaled that the relationship had moved well past tariffs alone, into territory where the rules have yet to be written.
In the days before two of the world's most consequential leaders were to meet face to face, their economic stewards gathered quietly in Manhattan to map the terrain. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met at JPMorgan Chase headquarters to prepare the ground for a Trump-Xi summit at the White House — only the second such encounter this year, and Xi's first visit to that address in over a decade. The conversations touched on the twin forces reshaping the global order: trade and artificial intelligence, each carrying its own weight of uncertainty and possibility. What was negotiated in that conference room was less a conclusion than a beginning — a careful attempt to build the channels through which two rival powers might, for a time, find common cause.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Sunday at JPMorgan Chase's Manhattan headquarters, laying the groundwork for a White House summit between President Trump and President Xi Jinping scheduled for Thursday. It would be Xi's first visit to the White House since 2015, and only the second Trump-Xi meeting of the year. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer joined the talks, which Bessent afterward called very successful.
Two subjects dominated: trade and artificial intelligence. On AI, the two sides agreed to establish a mutual notification mechanism for national security incidents — a move toward transparency between the world's leading AI powers, with further dialogue on the sector to follow. On trade, a newly formed 'board of trade' would identify non-sensitive goods — consumer products, energy, agriculture, and potentially medical devices — suitable for balanced commerce between the nations. Greer described the effort as part of a broader strategy to honor existing commitments and improve access for American farmers, manufacturers, and workers.
Both officials were clear that their deeper purpose was relational. Their joint statement framed the preliminary talks as an effort to strengthen the bond between the two presidents — careful language, but sincere in its intent to build working channels before the summit itself.
The AI question drew particular attention. Representative Ro Khanna called for it to lead the Trump-Xi agenda, proposing international monitoring mechanisms, data center inspections, and enforceable enforcement tools — a level of specificity that reflected how seriously policymakers were treating the need for real standards. The summit would also take up an expiring bilateral trade agreement and critical minerals, resources essential to electronics and renewable energy alike. What was discussed in that Manhattan room amounted to a preview of negotiations that could shape the relationship between the two economies for years to come.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat down with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Sunday in Manhattan, at the headquarters of JPMorgan Chase, to work through the details that would frame a much larger conversation. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were scheduled to meet at the White House just days later, on Thursday, for a summit and state dinner—their second face-to-face encounter this year and Xi's first visit to the White House since 2015. The preliminary talks between Bessent and He, who oversees China's economy, were meant to clear the ground, to establish what both sides could reasonably expect from the higher-level meeting.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer joined the discussions. Afterward, Bessent described the conversation as very successful, touching on two areas that would likely dominate the presidential summit: trade and artificial intelligence. The two countries had agreed to establish a mechanism for notifying each other about national security incidents involving AI—a shift, Bessent explained, from opacity toward greater transparency between the world's two leading AI powers. They also committed to further dialogue on AI specifically.
On the trade side, the conversation centered on a newly operational "board of trade" that would identify goods suitable for balanced commerce between the nations. The list included consumer items and low-tech products, energy, agricultural goods, and possibly medical devices—categories both sides deemed non-sensitive enough to move across the border without triggering national security concerns. Greer framed the effort as part of a broader strategy to monitor implementation of existing commitments, optimize trade in goods that posed no strategic risk, and improve market access for American farmers, manufacturers, and workers.
Bessent and Greer both emphasized that the real purpose of their meeting was to strengthen the relationship between the two presidents. "Most importantly, what we're doing is we're helping President Trump and President Xi continue their relationship," they said in a joint statement. The language was careful and diplomatic, but it reflected a genuine effort to establish working channels before the summit itself.
The artificial intelligence question loomed largest. Some industry leaders had called for regulation of the sector earlier in the month, and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California, speaking on Sunday, argued that an AI agreement should be the first item on the Trump-Xi agenda. Khanna outlined what such an agreement might include: international monitoring mechanisms, inspections of data centers to determine whether AI models were being used for inference or training, and enforceable, verifiable enforcement tools. The specificity of his proposal suggested how seriously policymakers were taking the need for concrete standards rather than vague commitments.
The summit would also address an expiring trade agreement between the two countries and discussions around critical minerals—resources essential to everything from electronics to renewable energy. The stakes were high: the U.S. and China account for the world's two largest economies, and their relationship shapes global commerce, technology development, and geopolitical stability. What Bessent and He discussed in that Manhattan conference room was, in effect, a preview of negotiations that would determine how those two economies would interact for years to come.
Notable Quotes
Most importantly, what we're doing is we're helping President Trump and President Xi continue their relationship.— Bessent and Greer
An agreement on AI needs to be the first agenda item on the Trump-Xi summit to set basic standards, including international monitoring and enforceable verification tools.— Rep. Ro Khanna
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