Washington, Aug 2026 : US President Donald Trump has asserted that the United States is significantly ahead of China in artificial intelligence, signalling that AI could feature prominently in discussions when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the US in September.
Speaking at the White House during a meeting with leaders from the technology, cryptocurrency and financial sectors, Trump said maintaining American leadership in emerging technologies would remain a key priority for his administration.
“We’re leading in every single one,” Trump said, referring to technological fields, before highlighting artificial intelligence. He said the US was “way ahead” of China, which he identified as the second-ranked country in the field.
“I never want to underestimate China, but right now we’re way ahead,” Trump said.
Trump added that Xi is scheduled to visit on September 24 and indicated that artificial intelligence and other economic and technological issues would likely form part of their discussions.
“President Xi’s coming on September 24th. We look forward to it. We’ll probably be talking about AI and a lot of other things,” he said.
The President also stressed that Washington needed to ensure that regulation did not undermine the rapid development of the AI industry. While supporting oversight, Trump argued that excessive regulation could prevent American companies from maintaining their competitive advantage.
“We want to regulate, but we want to have it regulated where they can continue to lead, not regulation that’s going to stifle a very important industry,” he said, describing AI as potentially larger in significance than the internet and other major technological breakthroughs.
Trump also highlighted the potential economic benefits of AI, arguing that the technology would create employment, encourage innovation and contribute to advances in areas such as medicine.
“I think it’s going to create a lot of jobs, it’s going to create success, it’s going to create tremendous innovation medically,” he said.
He pointed to the growing construction of AI facilities and data centres across the US as evidence of the sector’s potential to generate employment and economic activity. Trump said state and local governments should actively seek such investments because of the jobs, infrastructure development and tax revenues associated with them.
“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data centre, I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous,” Trump said.
Another major issue raised by Trump was the enormous amount of electricity required to operate AI data centres. He said his administration was accelerating approvals for technology companies seeking to construct their own power-generation facilities.
According to Trump, faster approvals would help address pressure on the ageing US electricity grid while allowing AI companies to secure reliable power. He said some newly constructed plants could also supply surplus electricity to the wider grid.
The White House gathering took place ahead of the first meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Innovation Advisory Committee. Senior representatives from major technology and financial companies, including Coinbase, Nasdaq, Robinhood, Kraken, Ripple, Chainlink Labs, Gemini and Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, attended the event.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig described computing capacity as a strategic resource in the global AI competition.
“Some call it digital oil, and America needs to dominate these markets to win the AI race,” Selig said, underscoring the growing importance of computing infrastructure to national competitiveness.
Trump also called on Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, legislation aimed at establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets. Coinbase co-founder Brian Armstrong said lawmakers were expected to vote on the measure on September 15 and described it as a bipartisan compromise.
The push for AI leadership comes amid intensifying technological competition between Washington and Beijing. Both countries are investing heavily in advanced computing, semiconductors, data centres, energy infrastructure and specialised talent.
The US has also imposed export controls restricting China’s access to certain advanced semiconductor technologies and chip-manufacturing equipment, making AI a central element of the broader strategic and economic rivalry between the two powers.
Trump’s comments indicate that AI is likely to remain a major component of US economic policy and could emerge as an important subject in his upcoming engagement with Xi.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
