Trump Establishes Federal AI Policy and Tech Détente with China

The United States and China entered a period of fragile détente regarding technology trade in late 2025 and early 2026. As part of this shift, Donald Trump authorized Nvidia Corporation to sell advanced H200 chips to China, provided the company accepts a 25 percent revenue cut. This diplomatic easing coincided with the U.S. Department of Commerce withdrawing plans to restrict Chinese drone imports, though the Federal Communications Commission issued a broader rule restricting foreign drones from all countries.

Domestically, Trump issued a December 2025 executive order aimed at establishing a uniform federal AI policy. The order seeks to limit state-level AI laws through regulatory preemption, funding conditions, and litigation. These moves occur as the White House and its allies pursue the Pax Silica initiative to secure semiconductor supply chains.

Globally, the U.S., China, and Europe are refreshing national quantum computing programs to maintain industrial sovereignty. These policy adjustments arrive amid an evolving threat landscape marked by the rise of agentic AI systems and AI-orchestrated hacking campaigns.