Donald Trump has defended hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, claiming the US now makes “a lot of money” from China…reports Asian Lite News Desk
US President Donald Trump has defended hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, claiming that the US is now making “a lot of money” from China. Trump also asserted that Washington was leading Beijing in artificial intelligence, proposing the term “superintelligence” to describe the technology.
Addressing a midterm election rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, on Wednesday (local time), Trump said his personal relationship with Xi was a key reason for welcoming the Chinese leader, adding that their recent meeting had gone well.
“We had the — the President of China last week. And people said, ‘Why are you doing that?’ I’m doing that because we get along. It’s nice,” Trump said.
“You know, we’re doing great with China. We make a lot of money with China. We used to lose a lot of money with China. We make a lot of money with China. And China respects us too,” he added.
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Trump pointed to Xi’s long journey to the US as evidence of his respect for the American presidency and the country.
“He doesn’t fly in an aeroplane for 21 hours unless he respects the President of a country or the country itself. And we had a great – a very great meeting,” he said.
However, Trump did not provide details of the agreements reached during the meeting or figures to support his claim that the US was now making money from its trade with China.
Trump says US leads China in artificial intelligence
Turning to technology, Trump claimed that the US was ahead of China and other countries in artificial intelligence, suggesting that the term did not adequately describe the technology’s capabilities.
“You know, we’re leading the world. We’re leading China. We’re leading everybody with what they called artificial intelligence. But I said, it’s not artificial; it’s really super. It’s superintelligence. Sometimes it may get too super; that’s what we have to watch,” he said.
Trump also referred to meetings with leading technology executives at the White House, including a dinner attended by Xi, but did not identify the executives.
“I had them to the White House. I had them to dinner with President Xi. He knew every one of them and what they did,” Trump said.
“They agree with me, it’s really superintelligence, so we’re going with that term,” he added.
China also featured in Trump’s remarks about a proposed new ballroom at the White House. Referring to the project, he said, “I thought President Xi would complain… that we’re reaching China.”
Trump links proposed $5,000 payment to US spending
Trump also promoted his proposed $5,000 payment to Americans if Republicans retain control of Congress in the November 3 elections, saying the money would need to be spent within the US.
“You can’t say… darling, let’s take a little trip to China so we can spend the five grand,” he said.
The remarks came as Trump sought to highlight his administration’s approach to China, US technological leadership and domestic economic priorities during the election campaign.
