DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.

Artificial intelligence developers must accept responsibility for their products rather than expect Washington to provide a federal “liability shield,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday.

Speaking on “Squawk Box,” Bessent placed the burden directly on the people building and operating the technology.

“It is humans who are responsible, not the AI,” he said when asked about President Donald Trump’s opposition to a regulatory crackdown on the emerging industry.

Some AI leaders have warned about risks from their rapidly advancing models and called for a possible slowdown.

Trump has pushed back against those appeals while strongly supporting the expansion of AI companies and data centers in the United States.

Bessent’s CNBC appearance also covered interest rates, economic pressure on Iran, his discussions with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Trump’s move to ban several media organizations from the White House.

The Treasury secretary said he met with He for 12 hours on Sunday before a summit in Washington later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The officials discussed AI and formalized conversations that could lead to another meeting in Shenzhen, China, later this year.

An Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is scheduled to take place in Shenzhen in November. Bessent said the United States and China also considered establishing a communications channel for future incidents involving AI.

Such a channel could allow the two countries to identify leading AI dangers, Bessent said, including “whether it’s uncontrollable agents, whether it’s non-state actors in cyber, non-state actors in bio weapons.”

The approaching expiration of the temporary trade truce between Washington and Beijing was a “focal point” of Sunday’s meeting, according to Bessent. The agreement paused the trade war between the two powers and is scheduled to expire Nov. 10.

The discussions came as Bessent leads the American effort to squeeze Iran’s economy through sanctions against its financial enablers.

The campaign has raised questions about whether the Trump administration will target China, Tehran’s leading trading partner, but Bessent offered no details after confirming the issue arose during the weekend talks.

Bessent also confirmed that Trump intends to greet Xi on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

“I think we’re going to have a great visit,” the Treasury secretary said.

On monetary policy, Bessent predicted that interest rates would decline after the Iran war ends.

“Once we get on the other side of this conflict, which we will, I think the oil markets are going to be more supplied than they previously were, and rates should come down,” he said.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week for the first time since 2023.

The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to increase its benchmark target range to 3.75% to 4% in an effort to reduce “elevated inflation.”

Trump, who appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, has repeatedly demanded lower rates.

The president said he spoke with Warsh before the committee meeting and told him that he might as well vote with the board because the outcome would not matter.

Bessent has also occupied a central role in the administration’s response to increasingly volatile economic indicators.

He highlighted a Sept. 10 Treasury buyback of more than $5 billion in 10 year and 20 year Treasury notes, later calling the operation “successful” during Sept. 15 testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.

The benchmark 10 year Treasury yield has climbed by roughly 100 basis points since the Iran war began in late February. It rose above 5% last week for the first time since 2007, while mortgage rates topped 7% this month for the first time in more than a year.

Bessent argued that yields might have risen even further without the buyback. “Since President Trump has come in, [the U.S. bond market] has been the best-performing bond market in the developing world,” he said.

Higher yields have coincided with sharply rising diesel prices linked to the Iran war.

Concerns about fuel and other essential consumer costs have left congressional Republicans worried about maintaining their majority in November’s election.

Bessent also defended Trump’s Friday decision to ban MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House over coverage the president considers unfair.

He cited “perceived bias” in the “legacy media” and said, “The one thing I’m sure of: the press cares more about the press than anything else.”

The three organizations plan to sue Trump on Monday on First Amendment grounds. CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.

DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.