US-China AI Hotline Won't Be Ready for Weeks, Officials Say

US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping meet at the White House on Thursday for a state dinner, with AI high on the agenda. Executives from OpenAI and Nvidia have confirmed they will attend. Among the main items is a US proposal to build an AI notification system with China, but according to Wired's Inner Loop newsletter, finalizing it will take several more weeks.

An analogue of the Cold War hotline

The mechanism, first announced by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday in talks with Chinese vice premier He Lifeng, would work like the Cold War hotline with Moscow: each country would be able to alert the other about national security issues related to AI. Officials say they are optimistic the line could be in place before the end of the year.

What still has to be agreed

Benchmarks for what kind of incident rises to the level of a national security issue remain unclear, and China has not yet given explicit sign-on. Washington is targeting a framework that is functional, and agreed to by Trump, by the time Bessent next meets Lifeng, in Shenzhen in two months.

Enforcement and Nvidia chips

Trump officials have discussed internally a framework that sets out when each country is obligated to alert the other, plus enforcement measures to ensure the system does not become one where only the US alerts China. Trade policy complicates the timing: the US is expected to extend a trade truce, and Trump has been reluctant to stop exports of cutting-edge Nvidia chips to China. This year the administration granted a limited number of licenses for Nvidia to sell its H200 chip to China; supporters of the sales argue that blocking them only pushes Huawei to build its own technology, and recent reports say Huawei has already done so, with commercially available AI chips.

The "AI czar" and a 2008 precedent

Some officials suggest the launch may slip further while Trump decides on his next "AI czar" for a role meant to coordinate agencies, known as the "AI Force". Bessent has been floated for the post, alongside commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and White House AI officials Michael Kratsios and Sean Cairncross. It is unclear whether the pick would keep a current role. The previous czar, David Sacks, served as a special government employee and is not considered likely to return.

The case for Bessent also draws on the 2008 financial crisis: former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said direct dialogue with then Chinese vice premier Wang Qishan helped Washington keep China from dumping a large portion of US government-sponsored debt issued by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Behind the talks lies a broader dynamic: both countries are racing to lead in AI, and concern about the capabilities of frontier models is growing on both sides.