Trump and Xi Will Discuss AI, but Chip Controls Limit Safety Deal Prospects

President Donald Trump will host Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington on Sept. 24 with AI governance on the agenda. The meeting follows an earlier agreement to create an AI-risk channel that, according to foreign-policy expert Lily McElwee, has seen little implementation—putting practical follow-through ahead of any sweeping safety pact.

The White House said in May that Trump would welcome Xi to Washington in the fall after the leaders agreed to build what it called a constructive relationship based on strategic stability, fairness and reciprocity. Trade and other issues are also expected at the summit, but AI has become a distinct test of whether the two governments can coordinate while competing for technological advantage.

A narrow agenda for AI safety

McElwee, president and CEO of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations, expects “very limited progress” on AI safety. She sees a broad, Cold War-style arms-control agreement as unlikely because of deep mistrust and the difficulty of verifying compliance.

Two steps McElwee considers tentatively achievable

• A government-to-government channel or hotline for discussing AI risks and early safeguards.
• Shared definitions of dangerous AI behavior, including removing human control from weapons systems or integrating AI into the nuclear command chain.

The dispute the summit is unlikely to settle

China’s chief concern is U.S. export controls on advanced chips, McElwee said, and she expects those controls to remain unchanged at the summit. That leaves a hard boundary around the diplomacy: the countries may be able to discuss preventing particular AI uses, but not resolve the computing-access dispute that shapes their wider rivalry.

A functioning channel would therefore be a modest outcome, not a settlement of the competition. Its immediate value would be a place for both governments to raise AI risks and early safeguards; whether the earlier commitment becomes operational is the more concrete question heading into Washington.