Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping wrapped up their Washington summit on Friday, facing criticism that they had squandered an opportunity to pause their countries’ artificial intelligence (AI) arms race.
asserted
they → wrap → race
The three-day state visit emphasised pageantry and personal rapport rather than substantial agreements.
asserted
visit → emphasise → agreements
The US president and Xi discussed the wars in Iran and Ukraine and the status of Taiwan.
asserted
president → discuss → Taiwan
But despite the presence of top tech executives at a White House state dinner on Thursday night, Trump and Xi failed to deliver the AI breakthrough that some experts and foreign governments had hoped for amid warnings that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.
uncertain
technology → fail → humanity
“It was such a layup,” said Ro Khanna, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives’ select committee on China.
asserted
Khanna → say → China
“If [Trump] had just said, look, we have established technical working groups and we’ve agreed to a framework that has called for DeepSeek and Moonshot and Alibaba to sit down with Anthropic and OpenAI and Gemini and with technical experts and they’re going to commit to at least a pause on any self-improving AI, he could have looked like he was a statesman taking the lead.
uncertain
he → say → lead
“I believe Xi Jinping would have agreed to some of at least the technical working groups.
asserted
Jinping → believe → groups
But he [Trump] didn’t want to; he has no interest in doing that.”
asserted
he → want → that
Three days of pomp and circumstance culminated on Friday with Trump and Xi drinking tea.
asserted
Trump → culminate → tea
Trump said the summit had produced great strides and that “our farmers are going to be happy,” but did not provide details.
asserted
farmers → say → details
The pair then went to the National Archives, where Trump and Xi looked at the original Declaration of Independence, the constitution and Bill of Rights.
asserted
Trump → go → Rights
Trump told reporters they were comparing China’s documents to America’s founding documents.
asserted
they → tell → documents
“Ours goes 250 years, which is great, and we’re proud of.
asserted
we → go → years
Theirs goes 6,000 years.
asserted
Theirs → go → years
But we’re very proud of our 250.”
asserted
we → ’re → 250
On Thursday, Xi acknowledged that the US and China have the “responsibility to develop and manage AI for good” and “ensure that the development of AI is always under human control”.
asserted
development → acknowledge → control
China aims to have next-generation smart terminals and AI agents reach more than 90% penetration by 2030.
asserted
terminals → aim → 2030
But Trump – who has repeatedly said the US must forge ahead to maintain its lead over China – appeared more focused on his push to rebrand artificial intelligence as “super intelligence”, later claiming on social media that Xi “seems to like” the term without divulging the substance of their discussions.
asserted
Xi → say → discussions
Later Trump hosted a black-tie state dinner attended by titans of the tech industry.
asserted
Trump → host → industry
Bernie Sanders, an independent senator of Vermont, used social media to label a photo of Trump and Xi’s table with guests’ net worth: Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla ($928bn), Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices ($3.5bn), Jensen Huang of Nvidia ($186bn) and Tim Cook of Apple ($3.1bn).
asserted
Sanders → use → Apple
Sanders commented: “A government of, by and for the billionaire class.”
asserted
Sanders → comment → class
But their counterparts in the Chinese tech industry were not present and there was little sign of either country making even a symbolic gesture to apply the brakes.
asserted
country → be → brakes
Khanna commented: “Trump didn’t have to have some groundbreaking treaty like Reagan and Gorbachev did [on nuclear weapons].
asserted
Reagan → comment → weapons
He could have at least said, look, we’re going to have a working group of Chinese and American technologists working together to make recommendations and enforcement and verification of the labs.”
uncertain
group → say → labs
Jonathan Czin, a fellow in the China Center at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington, agrees that an opportunity was missed.
asserted
opportunity → agree → Washington
“We are in this potentially transformative moment for both countries and for the world and for technology and, instead of having a meeting that would meet the moment, you got theatre of the absurd in lieu of that,” he said.
asserted
he → have → that
“Even going into this meeting, you’re dealing with a septuagenarian and octogenarian who may or may not have ever had first-hand contact with actually using AI and what happens with this technology rests on their two shoulders.
uncertain
happens → go → shoulders
The only thing they seemed to agree about is that neither of them wants to slow down with this technology, regardless of their actual understanding of it.”
asserted
neither → seem → it
The state visit underlined the contrast between Trump’s treatment of democratic allies such as Canada and authoritarian rivals such as China.
asserted
visit → underline → China
He broke from tradition to give Xi a red carpet welcome when he landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
asserted
he → break → Maryland
He also found time to show Xi around the White House, including a gallery wall of presidents where Joe Biden is mockingly depicted as an autopen, a construction site for his White House ballroom and a new helicopter landing pad.
asserted
Biden → find → ballroom
“He’s an expert on stone, aside from many other things, and he loves good granite,” Trump said.
asserted
Trump → ’ → granite
But the summit was somewhat overshadowed by Trump’s decision last week to bar CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House, sparking a legal fight.
asserted
summit → overshadow → fight
On Thursday, Chinese state media were welcomed into the White House grounds even as members of America’s free press were frozen out, though later they gained entry.
asserted
they → welcome → entry
As in May, when Trump visited Beijing, the leaders did not hold a press conference.
uncertain
leaders → visit → conference
Czin of the Brookings Institution added: “I had very low expectations going into this meeting for anything of substance and the meeting managed to underwhelm even those low expectations.
asserted
meeting → add → expectations
We went from the mezzanine down into the basement.
asserted
We → go → basement
In terms of the substance, it’s not clear to me what the US got out of this.”
asserted
US → ’ → this
Senate Democrats also criticised the summit, arguing that Trump failed to secure meaningful concessions from Beijing on trade, security, human rights or AI.
asserted
Trump → criticise → trade
Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, said: “As usual, Trump acts based solely on who flatters him at the moment, where the nearest photo op is, and what headline he covets.
asserted
he → say → headline
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
