Fox News’s senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy provided several key points ahead of Thursday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House.
Trump went into the meeting with several items on his list of things to try and work out with the Chinese leader, but Doocy noted that many of them would be non-starters for the Chinese leader.
“Xi is a tough guy to deal with,” Doocy told the “Fox & Friends” morning show hosts. “He’s here, there’s a lot that President Trump wants to get done with him, but there is a lot that Xi is signaling he will not do.”
Doocy then introduced a Fox News graphic that showed four “red lines” the Chinese leader likely would not budge on: Taiwan; Democracy & Human Rights; Developmental Path and Political System; and
Development Rights.
“We do expect an AI hotline to be established between the U.S. and China,” Doocy added, noting further that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart have extended a “trade truce” for another two months.
Doocy then noted that the COVID-19 pandemic was also something that initially drew interest from Trump and his administration shortly after returning to power in January 2025.
But, he noted further, “there doesn’t seem to be much interest” in confronting Xi with a CIA assessment Trump had released his first week in office indicating that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan.
Trump said Thursday morning that artificial intelligence would be a major topic during his meeting with Xi, placing the rapidly developing technology at the center of talks between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.
“AI will be a big topic of discussion,” Trump wrote on social media ahead of Xi’s meetings at the White House.
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The comments came as Washington and Beijing increasingly compete for technological dominance in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and advanced computing while simultaneously confronting questions about whether the two countries should cooperate on preventing potentially catastrophic AI failures.
Trump told Reuters ahead of the meeting that both countries are developing powerful AI systems but suggested he was not looking for sweeping new restrictions.
“We both want to leave it exactly where it is,” Trump said, referring to the current state of competition between the United States and China.
AI has become one of the most consequential areas of the broader U.S.-China rivalry.
American officials have restricted China’s access to some advanced computer chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, arguing that the technology could be used to strengthen Beijing’s military and intelligence capabilities.
China has responded by accelerating development of its domestic semiconductor industry and artificial intelligence systems.
The Trump administration has generally favored rapid American AI development over new federal restrictions.
Earlier this month, Trump rejected growing calls for tougher regulation, writing on social media that claims AI could destroy humanity were a “hoax” and arguing that overly aggressive rules could leave American companies at a disadvantage against China.
Trump reinforced that position Tuesday during his address to the United Nations General Assembly.
“Whoever wins AI, wins,” Trump told world leaders while arguing that the United States must remain ahead in the global technology race.
He also said the Justice Department could intervene if AI companies engaged in misconduct but resisted calls for broad new government regulation.
Trump suggested that artificial intelligence could ultimately become even more transformative than the Industrial Revolution.
The president’s position contrasts with increasingly urgent warnings from some technology executives and researchers.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have all raised concerns about the possibility that increasingly sophisticated AI systems could eventually pose serious risks if development proceeds without sufficient safeguards.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
