Washington launches export initiative to ensure ‘future of AI is led by the United States’

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office of the White House during an executive order signing event on Tuesday.

Photo: EPA The US government has unveiled an AI export initiative designed to cement American technological leadership while countering China’s growing influence in the sector.

Washington is inviting US companies to form “preset” consortiums to offer full-stack artificial intelligence solutions around the world.

Applications will be accepted until the end of June, the International Trade Administration (ITA), an agency under the US Department of Commerce, said in a news release issued on Wednesday.

The consortium participants must not be from or controlled by “countries of concern” – a term the release did not define, but which previous documents have indicated includes China, the only rival to the United States in AI superpower standing.

The release said “export packages” – comprising hardware, data pipelines, foundational models, cybersecurity, and industry-specific applications – will be promoted globally with the full weight of US diplomatic and financial backing. “By promoting full-stack American solutions, we are strengthening our economic and national security, deepening ties with allies and partners, and ensuring that the future of AI is led by the United States,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.

A 15-page ITA document inviting the submission of proposals outlined stringent “national interest” requirements, stipulating that anchor members of any consortium must be US-incorporated and free from the control of “countries of concern”.

Moreover, consortium participants, including subcontractors and local partners, should not be from or controlled by “countries of concern”.

The document did not explicitly name such nations, but deferred to the definition in the 2026 National Defence Authorisation Act, which included China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.

Among the listed countries, only China is viewed as a primary competitor to the US in the AI field.

The initiative also sets a 51 per cent US-ownership threshold for AI models, while explicitly barring any control by “countries of concern”.

The ownership requirement may be waived for open-weight models if a qualified US entity assumes full responsibility for the model’s deployment, integration and security functions.

That directly targets high-performing Chinese models, such as DeepSeek, preventing them from being integrated into US-backed in

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