China and US hold first AI dialogue under trade mechanism

China confirmed its first artificial intelligence dialogue with the United States under the bilateral economic and commercial consultation mechanism. The announcement was made Thursday by Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong. He stated that economic and commercial teams recently held the eighth round of bilateral consultations in the U.S., describing the exchange as "frank, in-depth, and constructive," with several consensuses reached under guidance from Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. He confirmed the first AI dialogue occurred within this mechanism but provided no details on content or whether incident management protocols were discussed. The consultations refer to recent meetings between Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The ministry did not clarify if the dialogue included extending the Busan trade truce to January 10, as Bessent announced Wednesday, ahead of a scheduled Xi-Trump meeting in Washington.