US can hold AI talks with China because it is ‘in the lead,’ Treasury chief says

Speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of US President Donald Trump’s two-day meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Bessent said the two countries would begin discussions on AI and establish a protocol on best practices for the rapidly developing technology.

“The two AI superpowers are gonna start talking. We’re gonna set up a protocol in terms of how do we go forward with best practices for AI to make sure non-state actors don’t get a hold of these models,” Bessent said.

“The reason we are able to have wholesome discussions with the Chinese on AI is because we are in the lead,” he added. “I do not think we would be having the same discussions if they were this far ahead of us.”

Bessent also said he expects a major “step-function jump” in upcoming large language model releases from Google’s Gemini and OpenAI.

Washington has sought to limit China’s AI development by restricting sales of advanced semiconductors, mainly from Nvidia, to the country. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined Trump’s delegation to China as a late addition, according to the report.

Asked about reports that Washington had cleared sales of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to several major Chinese technology firms, Bessent said there had been “a lot of back and forth” on the matter.

Trump and Xi wrapped up their first major meeting of the China trip at noon local time Thursday. Beijing’s readout said Xi emphasized that Taiwan is the most important issue in bilateral relations and warned against mishandling the matter.

Bessent said Trump would say more on Taiwan “in the coming days,” adding that the US president understands the sensitivities around the issue.