U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng discussed creating a notification system to alert each other about artificial intelligence-related national security threats during economic talks in New York. The proposed mechanism, called the 'U.S.-China A. I. dialogue,' would activate when AI issues reach national security levels.

Officials emphasized transparency between the world’s top two AI powers. The talks occurred ahead of President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington and aimed to lay groundwork for agreements on AI, trade, and the war in Iran. U.S. officials expressed concerns about AI enhancing Chinese hacking, military, and surveillance capabilities, citing reports of American AI models being compromised. They also discussed establishing a new Board of Trade to promote balanced trade in nonsensitive goods, including Chinese consumer products and American energy and agricultural items.

The dialogue builds on a one-year trade truce agreed upon last October. Reporting by Alan Rappeport, Lauren Hirsch, and Ana Swanson.