Trade truce extension aside, was AI the real Xi-Trump summit breakthrough?

The Xi-Trump summit may prove more significant for stabilising relations and opening space for further negotiations between the world’s two largest economies than for its immediate trade outcomes, analysts said, pointing to the significance of a new dialogue on artificial intelligence.

With the two leaders expected to meet again in the coming months, attention could shift from extending the latest tariff truce to building a more durable framework for managing economic and technological competition, they added.

During President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Washington, which ended on Friday, the two sides agreed on recommendations for more favourable tariff treatment covering US$30 billion worth of non-sensitive goods in each direction under the newly established Board of Trade. They also agreed that China would buy American coal and established a “super intelligence” dialogue, according to a White House fact sheet released on Friday.

The two countries would “continue to work on” US concerns over China’s rare earth export controls, while Washington urged Beijing to increase production of refined petroleum products to “stabilise global supply” and take further steps to curb the flow of fentanyl precursors, the fact sheet said.