China has long been hoping to extract concessions from Trump over Taiwan, a democratically governed island Beijing claims as its own, and the world's leading producer of cutting-edge chips. Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
U.S. law requires the administration to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but questions have been hanging over a large pending arms package worth up to $14 billion since Trump's Beijing visit.
People familiar with Chinese efforts told Reuters Beijing hopes to persuade Trump to state publicly that the U.S. opposes Taiwan's independence instead of saying only that it does not support independence, which has been Washington's formulation for decades.
Any U.S. shift on Taiwan would be highly controversial, raising questions about Washington's resolve to defend the island, alarming allies across Asia and provoking opposition in Congress.
Analysts see artificial intelligence as a potential area for cooperation, given its implications for national security, economic competitiveness and military capabilities, and shared U.S. and Chinese concerns about misuse. However, experts say intense competition in the field between the countries is likely to limit the scope for anything beyond symbolic agreements.
On Wednesday, Axios cited a statement from Bessent as saying that the United States was open to discussing shared risks with China in AI talks this weekend.
U.S. lawmakers have urged new rules to govern AI systems, while Dario Amodei, chief executive of U.S. artificial-intelligence firm Anthropic, warned this month that Chinese dominance in AI could pose security risks to the United States.
Chinese state media dismissed Amodei's warning as coming from a "Cold War playbook" while Trump has brushed aside calls to slow AI development, saying that "very negative forces" were raising exaggerated concerns.
Curbing the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China remains a concern of the Trump administration, given the ravages the drug has caused among Americans.
Washington has repeatedly accused Beijing of failing to stem the flow of precursors, and Trump imposed fentanyl-related tariffs on China in early 2025 that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in February.
FBI Director Kash Patel told Reuters last month that he had forged a new law enforcement partnership with China in hopes of curbing the trade.
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