US and China to Open AI Incident Channel, Push Military Crisis Talks After Summit

China and the United States have agreed to establish a channel for handling incidents linked to artificial intelligence and to speed up work on military crisis communications, following a three-day summit between their leaders in Washington. Both sides announced the understandings in separate statements on Saturday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the two countries would sign a memorandum of understanding on strengthening crisis communications and preventing crises between their militaries. Its one-page readout offered few specifics. The two sides also plan a dedicated dialogue on artificial intelligence, scheduled for November, to discuss related risks and benefits.

On trade, the two governments will keep working on a pledge to cut reciprocal tariffs on goods worth roughly $30 billion. During the summit, the leaders agreed to extend a trade truce by two months. The White House said a Board of Trade handling selected bilateral trade issues began operating this week. It also said China committed to importing at least 10 million metric tons of US coal in 2027 and 2028. Much of the tariff relief covers non-sensitive goods such as agricultural products and holiday decorations.

Washington said the two sides continued to address American concerns over rare earths supplies, aiming to return shipment levels to appropriate levels. China imposed export controls on rare earths last year in response to US tariffs, reducing supplies to the United States and other countries.

Further meetings are planned on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November, and later at the G20 at the Trump National Doral Miami golf club in Florida. Both sides also said Iran should honour its stated commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, and that no country should charge a toll on international waterways — a reference to the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has fallen sharply since the US war with Iran began.

The US statement welcomed China's move to add export controls for two more precursor chemicals used in fentanyl, and both sides noted recent arrests in fentanyl-related cases.

The summit produced no major breakthroughs on the countries' fundamental differences. Analysts said the incremental steps were still significant because they set up working groups that could stop problems from escalating.

"Personal diplomacy between the two leaders is important, but the emphasis on working-level engagement, military-to-military dialogue and crisis-management mechanisms suggests an effort to make that stability more durable and institutionalized," said Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing-based think tank Center for China and Globalization.

Chinese President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Saturday. During the visit, President Donald Trump was notably warm toward Xi, despite having escalated a trade war with China the previous year that had global repercussions.