The United States and China have agreed to reduce tariffs on $30 billion of goods, the White House announced on Friday, the first concrete economic outcome of this week's high-profile summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington.
What was agreed
"The two countries reached consensus on recommendations for more favorable tariff treatment for $30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction," the White House said in a statement.
The tariff reductions would apply to US exports such as agricultural goods, wood and cosmetics, as well as US imports including small appliances, toys and decorations.
A cordial but inconclusive summit
Xi's three-day visit, his first to the US since 2015, ended on Friday with a 21-gun salute at the airport. The talks covered trade, artificial intelligence, Taiwan and international conflicts, but produced little evidence of a wider strategic breakthrough.
On artificial intelligence, the two sides agreed to hold a dialogue on the technology's risks and benefits — with the next round set for November — and to set up a communication channel for AI-related incidents, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the White House.
Trump told reporters on September 26 that the two leaders agreed on one thing about AI: they both like the idea of renaming it "superintelligence." But he was quick to add that the United States would not slow its AI development. "We're leading by a lot, and we're going to keep it that way," he said.
Pomp and AI heavyweights
During the visit, Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted a lavish state dinner for the Chinese delegation, with AI industry leaders among the guests — including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, Tesla's Elon Musk, Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Apple's Tim Cook and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg.
Sources:
USA Today: No breakthrough AI agreement between Trump and Xi during US-China summit