US and China Pledge Reciprocal Tariff Cuts on $30 Billion of Goods and Launch AI Dialogue

The United States and China said they will continue to work together on a pledge to reduce reciprocal tariffs on roughly $30 billion worth of goods, part of the outcomes from President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington. The outcomes were summarized in a White House fact sheet released late Friday. The goods named are non-sensitive items including agricultural products and holiday decorations; other reports describe US exports such as wood and cosmetics and Chinese imports such as small appliances and toys, making it a two-way basket.

The tariff figure is a pledge rather than an executed cut. No effective date has been given, and USTR Jamieson Greer said fuller implementation details would follow Monday. The package comes alongside a two-month extension of a trade truce that had been due to expire on Nov. 10, and China agreed to import at least 10 million metric tons of US coal in 2027 and 2028.

On AI, the two sides agreed to a "U.S.-China Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue," adopting Trump's preferred term for the technology, with a next meeting by November, plus a bilateral channel for SI incidents likened to a Cold War "red telephone". Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed for the channel, though it is not clear what incidents would trigger it.

Trump signaled limits on cooperation, saying the US is leading China in AI "by at least a year, maybe a year and a half" and that it is "not going to be putting on brakes." Key items to watch are USTR's product lists and effective dates, the November dialogue meeting, and whether the incident channel gets defined protocols.