The world’s two largest economies are locked in an AI arms race, and both just scored points. President Trump’s push for American AI dominance through executive action and President Xi Jinping’s launch of a new international AI cooperation body represent parallel, competing visions for who gets to write the rules of the most transformative technology since the internet.
Two presidents, two playbooks
Trump moved first. On January 23, 2025, he signed Executive Order 14179, directing the creation of an AI Action Plan designed to cement American primacy in artificial intelligence and digital asset innovation.
Xi responded with institution-building. China established the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, or WAICO, on July 16, 2026, in Shanghai. The organization launched with 29 founding members and a pledge to provide 5,000 AI training opportunities for developing nations over the next five years.
The two leaders then sat down together in Beijing from May 12 to 15, 2026, for a summit that put AI governance, chip exports, and tech policy squarely on the bilateral agenda. US officials used the occasion to assert that America still leads.
