Trump-Xi Summit, White House Media Ban Update, Netanyahu's UN Speech

Up First from NPR

The episode covers three major international news stories: the high-profile summit between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, th

Key takeaways

• President Trump and Xi Jinping extended their trade agreement by two months during their White House summit.
• Discussions between US and Chinese officials included potential information-sharing systems for AI security incidents.

Main topics

• US-China Trade War
• Artificial Intelligence Regulation

Notable quotes

leave it exactly where it is

Conclusion

The episode illustrates a period of significant friction in both domes

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:02) President Trump rolled out the red carpet for President Xi Jinping of China. Speaker 3 (0:06) Besides all the pomp and pageantry, what consensus have they reached on issues such as their trade war and artificial intelligence? Speaker 2 (0:12) I'm Leila Fadil, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Speaker 2 (0:19) While Trump courts Xi, U.S. television networks have not broadcast any footage of the summit. They're waiting for the White House to confirm CNN will be given equal access as part of the TV press pool. How long will the president keep up his attack on the press? Speaker 3 (0:34) At the U.N. General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at critics. Many diplomats walked out. How is Netanyahu's speech being viewed in Israel? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. Speaker 7 (0:50) This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy, David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right. Because the monkey pressed the button. Spicing stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 5 (1:15) This week on the NPR Politics Podcast, Republicans are on their heels and about to spend a lot of money on ads. Speaker 6 (1:22) Some of these ads are going to be ugly and it's going to be a pretty negative campaign. That's the nature of a midterm when you've got an environment like the one that the Republicans are facing. Speaker 5 (1:31) We look at the Republican money machine with less than 40 days until the midterms. This week on the NPR Politics Podcast. Speaker 3 (1:38) President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have met all over the world in the last 10 years, but this week, for the first time, they met at the White House. Speaker 2 (1:47) Trump hosted Xi for a lavish state dinner last night. The U.S. president literally rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese leader as they discussed artificial intelligence, trade, and the Iran war. Speaker 3 (1:58) NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram joins us now to discuss all of this. So, Deepa, what kinds of things of substance came out of the meetings and the summit? Speaker 1 (2:07) Yeah, I mean, there were no major announcements, but there were a few concrete takeaways from the summit. The first is the U.S. announced a two-month extension of the trade agreement between the countries, which was established last year when Trump and Xi met in South Korea. And there were also discussions about artificial intelligence. U.S. and Chinese officials had deliberated over information-sharing systems that would help alert each other over AI incidents that would affect national security. And that would have been a huge development in AI security. globally because there aren't a lot of guardrails that exist for this technology. But it's unclear how far that proposal on AI will actually go because in his remarks on Thursday morning, Trump was clear that on AI, he wants to, quote, leave it exactly where it is. Trump has been opposed to any kind of regulation around the technology and often speaks about beating China on AI. Overall, though, I mean, there were low expectations for anything major to come out of the summit. The meeting had more of an emphasis on Trump and Xi's personal relationship, more surface level rhetoric about the friendship between the two countries. Xi, I will say, made several comments about the responsibility the U.S. and China have to cooperate and communicate. Speaker 3 (3:15) State visits usually involve some level of pomp and circumstance. It really seemed, though, like President Trump wanted to go all out to welcome Xi to the White House. You heard Layla mention literally rolling out the red carpet.