Trump, Xi weigh AI ‘guardrails’ as Nvidia chip exports hang in the balance

US President Donald Trump and Chinese officials discussed artificial intelligence “guardrails” and Nvidia’s H200 chips during his just-ended state visit to Beijing.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One during his return flight, Trump said the two sides “talked about possibly working together for guardrails” on AI, characterising them as “standard guardrails that we talk about all the time”.

Regarding Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing units (GPUs) – shipments of which have yet to be approved by Beijing – Trump confirmed that the issue “did come up” during his meetings and that he “thinks something could happen”.

However, he noted that China had so far refrained from buying the hardware because it “chose not to” and instead “wants to try and develop their own” domestic alternatives.

When asked whether the two sides talked about AI cooperation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Friday that “China has always advocated that all parties jointly promote the development of artificial intelligence in an open, inclusive, beneficial and good-for-all direction”.

He addressed the Nvidia chip issue by saying that China had repeatedly stated its principled position on the issue, without elaborating. Beijing previously said that it firmly opposed the abuse of export controls.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday that allowing the H200 shipments would be a “sovereign decision” for ‌China.