The United States and China have taken a new step to reduce trade and technological tension. The governments of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have agreed to apply a more favorable tariff treatment to goods valued at 30 billion dollars in each direction of bilateral trade and to launch a stable dialogue mechanism on artificial intelligence. The pact is part of a broader consensus reached during the Chinese president's state visit to Washington, which concluded this Friday.
There is an important nuance in the figure. The agreement does not imply that the United States and China will stop collecting 30 billion dollars in tariffs. What has been agreed is to reduce or improve the tariff treatment of a set of products whose trade is valued at 30 billion dollars in each direction, that is, U.S. exports to China for that amount and Chinese goods to the United States for the same amount. The White House explicitly speaks of a more favorable deal for 30 billion dollars of "non-sensitive" goods from each country.
Agriculture, seafood, cosmetics, and toys among the affected products
In the case of U.S. exports to China, the list includes agricultural products, fish and seafood, wood, cosmetics, and medical devices. For U.S. imports from China, consumer goods such as small appliances, toys, holiday decorations, and child car seats appear. The two countries have also activated the so-called Board of Trade, a mechanism initially agreed upon during the May summit to negotiate trade barriers and new tariff reductions.
However, the understanding does not eliminate the bulk of the trade restrictions that continue to separate both powers. The United States maintains export controls on strategic technologies and advanced chips, while Beijing retains control tools over critical minerals and rare earths. The White House itself acknowledges that both parties continue to negotiate the supply issues of these materials, especially relevant for industries such as automotive, defense, and technology manufacturing.
China has also committed to importing at least ten million metric tons of U.S. coal in 2027 and another ten million in 2028, while both governments have created a Board of Investment aimed at discussing investments and regulatory obstacles between the two economies.
A new channel to talk about artificial intelligence
The other major novelty is in AI. Washington and Beijing have decided to create the U.S.-China Super Intelligence Dialogue, a bilateral forum to exchange positions on the benefits and risks of the most advanced systems. The next round of talks must take place before November and, in parallel, the two countries will establish a direct communication channel to notify each other of incidents related to these technologies.
The United States had proposed days earlier a mutual notification mechanism for cases in which an artificial intelligence system could pose a threat to national security. The Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, presented the proposal during a meeting in New York with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in which both delegations prepared much of the issues that later reached the table of Trump and Xi.
The dialogue does not imply that Washington and Beijing have set aside their technological competition. The United States continues to restrict Chinese companies' access to certain semiconductors and advanced technologies, while China aims to reduce its dependence on U.S. suppliers. In the negotiations leading up to the summit, there were also no announced advances on the export controls of AI chips, one of the most sensitive issues in the bilateral relationship.
The U.S. and China prefer to talk about "superintelligence"
One of the most striking details of the agreement is terminological. According to the White House, Trump and Xi have agreed to use the term "superintelligence" instead of "artificial intelligence" to refer to the emerging technologies that will be the subject of this bilateral dialogue. The official objective will be to exchange opinions on their risks and benefits and to establish mechanisms to react to possible incidents.
Xi defended during his conversations in Washington that the two countries have great capabilities in this area and that, although they will continue to compete, there is room to cooperate on security issues. "Both parties can continue their dialogue on AI, exchange opinions about its risks and benefits, and jointly prevent its abusive or malicious use," noted the Chinese president, according to the Beijing Foreign Ministry.
The creation of the channel also comes at a time of growing international concern about models capable of operating autonomously, finding computer vulnerabilities, or executing actions without constant human supervision. This has opened a space of common interests between Washington and Beijing despite both maintaining an intense race for technological leadership.
A reduction agreed in May that is now beginning to materialize
The tariff package does not start from zero. The United States and China had already agreed during the summit held in Beijing in May 2026 to study reciprocal reductions on 30 billion dollars of goods in each direction. Xi's visit to Washington has now served to activate the Board of Trade and advance the practical implementation of that commitment.
The trade relationship continues, however, marked by pending agreements. China had previously committed to increasing its purchases of American agricultural products and Boeing airplanes, but part of those commitments is progressing more slowly than expected. Before the summit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that Chinese imports of American agricultural products could fall below the amounts announced months ago.
Washington and Beijing had also recently extended the trade truce by two months that was set to expire on November 10, buying time to continue negotiating a broader agreement. The new package approved during Xi's visit does not therefore end the trade conflict, but consolidates a period of lower escalation after years of tariffs, technological restrictions, and reprisals.
From trade war to more controlled competition
The final statement of the visit speaks of building a relationship of "strategic stability" based on respect, equity, and reciprocity, a concept that both governments have been using since the meeting in May. Trump has presented the meeting as productive, while Beijing emphasizes that the two powers must expand areas of cooperation and manage their differences to avoid a new escalation.
The divergences remain deep in trade, technology, Taiwan, and security, so the agreement does not represent a complete normalization of relations. It does imply a change from the more intense phases of the trade war: 30 billion dollars of products from each country will have a more favorable tariff treatment and, for the first time, the two largest technological powers establish a specific channel to manage incidents related to AI.
The result of Xi's visit is thus more limited than a major trade treaty, but it introduces two concrete mechanisms to reduce risks. On one hand, Washington and Beijing are trying to alleviate some of the barriers that weigh on their trade exchanges; on the other, they open a communication channel about a technology in which they continue to compete for global leadership, but whose risks can simultaneously affect both countries.