Trump hails ‘very productive’ talks with China’s Xi Jinping

Xi says China and US have a relationship of ‘strategic stability’ during state visit that included discussions about Iran and AI cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and US President Donald Trump speak through interpreters as first lady Melania Trump listens to Elon Musk, right, during a state dinner in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 24, 2026 [Brendan Smialowski/AFP]

United States President Donald Trump has hailed “very productive” talks with his counterpart Xi Jinping, which included a conversation on AI and the war in Iran, during the Chinese leader’s three-day state visit to Washington, DC.

When asked by reporters on Friday if the two leaders had discussed the war in Iran, Trump replied, “We did,” adding without providing details: “I think we’re going to do great.”

Trump also confirmed he will meet twice more this year with Xi: “We will be meeting again in November, in China, and then at the G20 in December, in Miami, Florida,” he said on Truth Social.

Trump added that this week’s meeting “was one of Friendship, Strength, and Success, for both China and the USA”.

During a tea ceremony at the White House on Friday, Xi – who was on his first visit to the US in more than a decade – said, “We invite the president and his wife to visit China,” also noting that the two leaders could have two further opportunities to meet this year.

Xi also said the US-China relationship had developed into a constructive one of “strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness and reciprocity”.

Earlier on Friday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “tremendous things will be happening” between the US and China, adding that his meetings with Xi were productive for both sides, emphasising the issue of artificial intelligence.

“[Xi] seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named Artificial Intelligence to a far more accurate and important name, SUPER INTELLIGENCE. That would be ‘SUPER!’ Everyone last night agreed, also,” said the US president.

Trump told the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week that the US would rename artificial intelligence “super intelligence” in all US government documents.

Trump hosted a lavish state dinner on Thursday for Xi, which included high-profile guests like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla head Elon Musk, who was seated at the main table alongside the Chinese and US presidents.

Despite being locked in a fierce strategic rivalry over AI, Trump and Xi have rebuffed recent calls from inside the US tech sector to slow the pace of development over concerns about controlling the rapidly advancing technology.

On Friday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher that creating channels of communication on AI is one of the main challenges Washington and Beijing are seeking to overcome.

“I think with every government in the world right now, there isn’t a department of AI, and so there can be a question of who do you call when you have an issue,” Greer said, adding: “When I think about it, I think about the red zone between the Kremlin and the White House during the Cold War.”

Greer said another meeting on AI is planned within the next month between the representatives of both countries.

Separately, Greer told US media on Friday that the current talks did not cover the sale of a small amount of high-quality US-made chips requiring licences.

“These are the ⁠crown jewels of American technology. It’s the way we stay ahead in the race for superintelligence, or AI, and so those conversations … [are] not really happening in these negotiations,” Greer ‌said.

On the Iran war, David Perdue, the US ambassador to China, ‌told US-based business news network CNBC that Trump told Xi that direct or indirect support for Iran was “totally unacceptable”.

Perdue later told Fox News that China was already moving away from supporting Iran, saying, “That’s what the commitment is. They ⁠assured us yesterday they’re not doing that.”

Xi and Trump made a show of working to preserve harmony between the world’s two largest economies during the visit, though there were no major breakthroughs on issues such as trade or AI safety.

习近平在对美国进行国事访问期间表示，中美关系具有“战略稳定”特征，访问期间双方还讨论了伊朗问题和人工智能合作等议题。

2026年9月24日，在华盛顿特区白宫东厅举行的国宴上，中国国家主席习近平（左）和美国总统唐纳德·特朗普通过翻译交谈，第一夫人梅拉尼娅·特朗普聆听埃隆·马斯克（右）的讲话。[Brendan Smialowski/AFP]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普称赞与中国国家主席习近平的会谈“非常富有成效”，会谈内容包括人工智能和伊朗战争等问题。此次会谈是中国领导人对华盛顿特区进行为期三天的国事访问期间进行的。

周五，当记者问及两位领导人是否讨论过伊朗战争时，特朗普回答说：“我们讨论过。”他补充道，但没有提供细节：“我认为我们会做得很好。”

特朗普还证实，他今年还将与习近平会面两次：“我们将在11月在中国再次会面，然后在12月在佛罗里达州迈阿密举行的G20峰会上会面，”他在Truth Social上说道。

特朗普补充说，本周的会晤“对中国和美国来说都是一次友谊、力量和成功的会晤”。

周五在白宫举行的茶会上，习近平主席——这是他十多年来首次访美——表示：“我们邀请贵方主席和夫人访问中国”，并指出两位领导人今年可能还有两次会面机会。

习近平还表示，中美关系已经发展成为在尊重、公平、互惠基础上的“战略稳定”建设性关系。

周五早些时候，特朗普在 Truth Social 上发文称，美中之间“将会发生巨大的事情”，并补充说，他与习近平的会晤对双方都富有成效，重点强调了人工智能问题。

“（习近平）似乎喜欢把之前被糟糕且不准确的‘人工智能’改称为一个更准确、更重要的名字——‘超级智能’。那才叫‘超级’！昨晚大家都同意这一点，”美国总统说道。

特朗普本周早些时候在联合国大会上表示，美国将在所有美国政府文件中将人工智能更名为“超级智能”。

周四，特朗普为习近平举行了盛大的国宴，出席的贵宾包括亚马逊的杰夫·贝佐斯和特斯拉的埃隆·马斯克，马斯克与中美两国元首同桌就餐。

尽管在人工智能领域存在激烈的战略竞争，但特朗普和习近平拒绝了美国科技界近期要求放慢发展速度的呼吁，因为担心难以控制这项快速发展的技术。

周五，美国贸易代表杰米森·格里尔告诉半岛电视台的艾伦·费舍尔，建立人工智能方面的沟通渠道是华盛顿和北京正在寻求克服的主要挑战之一。

格里尔说：“我认为目前世界上每个政府都没有人工智能部门，所以当遇到问题时，你可能会问该找谁。”他补充道：“当我想到这个问题时，我想到了冷战时期克里姆林宫和白宫之间的红色区域。”

格里尔表示，两国代表计划在下个月再次就人工智能问题举行会晤。

另外，格里尔周五告诉美国媒体，目前的谈判不包括出售少量需要许可证的高质量美国制造芯片。

格里尔说：“这些是美国科技的瑰宝。这是我们在超级智能或人工智能竞赛中保持领先的方式，因此，这些对话……在这些谈判中并没有真正发生。”

关于伊朗战争，美国驻华大使戴维·珀杜告诉美国商业新闻网CNBC，特朗普告诉习近平，直接或间接支持伊朗是“完全不可接受的”。

珀杜后来告诉福克斯新闻，中国已经开始停止支持伊朗，他说：“这就是中国的承诺。他们昨天向我们保证，他们不会那样做。”

尽管习近平和特朗普在访问期间表现出努力维护世界两大经济体之间的和谐，但在贸易或人工智能安全等问题上并没有取得重大突破。