Trump and Xi's meeting this week could change the course of the AI race
Key takeaways
- When Trump last visited China in 2017, artificial intelligence was not yet the centre of global power.
- Beijing and Washington are not just competing over tariffs, chips, rare earths and market access.
- That gives the Trump-Xi meeting significance beyond bilateral diplomacy.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
When Trump last visited China in 2017, artificial intelligence was not yet the centre of global power. Now it is. (Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein)
Link copied Share Share article While China's role in any potential resolution between the US and Iran continue to dominate the global headlines, it is the escalating technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing, particularly over artificial intelligence that is likely to shape the most consequential conversations of Donald Trump's meeting with China's President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital this week.
Not because AI is one more item in the rivalry, but because it now runs through almost every uncertainty in the world order: security, trade, climate, energy, labour, surveillance, corporate power and the future of human society.