Trump's upgrade of US-led AI alliance runs into European resistance
The US wants to turn Pax Silica, its AI supply chain alliance, into a wider economic security pact, to be endorsed in San Francisco on Sunday. EU countries have raised concerns, citing vague definitions, a terminology clash over superintelligence and risks to their regulatory autonomy.
The United States is encountering opposition from European nations over its plans to expand the global AI initiative, Pax Silica, into a broader economic security framework. A draft declaration, reviewed by EU ambassadors, asserts that "economic security is fundamental to national security" and emphasizes the need for nations to protect their critical systems and technologies from adversaries.
The United States aims to have Pax Silica members endorse the declaration at a ceremony in San Francisco on Sunday. While the EU joined Pax Silica in June, despite concerns from France, recent proposals have reignited internal divisions. The declaration calls for a "common understanding" on safeguarding sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure by diversifying supply chains and coordinating responses to economic coercion.
It asserts that "durable economic security among trusted partners rests not on professions of friendship alone, but on the vigilant protection of the foundations on which our economies depend and on the active promotion of shared innovation and technological leadership." The disagreement stems partly from past U.S. efforts to limit access to advanced AI technology, such as export controls introduced in 2025 that would have restricted advanced AI chips to select EU countries.
The Trump administration abandoned these controls, but they would have posed significant challenges to the EU's single market. Another point of contention is the declaration's broad definition of sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure, which some EU states seek to clarify with objective criteria. Additionally, the U.S. concept of "superintelligence" differs from the European Commission's narrower definition based on the Artificial Intelligence Act.
While the EU governments tasked the Commission with representing the bloc and negotiating the declaration with the U.S., it may not receive authorization to sign it in time for the San Francisco event.
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