Trump's science and tech man lays out White House's global AI strategy

U.S. argumentation is often reported done announcements, personalities and regulatory skirmishes. Far little attraction is paid to the economical mechanisms that really determination structures and find outcomes.

To recognize however the White House is organizing a multipronged strategy for AI adoption and export, and however its pieces are meant to enactment unneurotic successful practice, I had an exclusive beryllium down with Michael Kratsios, adjunct to the president and manager of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Tanvi Ratna: The cardinal contented you talk astir astatine the acme is the widening AI adoption spread betwixt the developed and processing world. What makes that a interest for the White House close now?

Michael Kratsios: The divergence successful AI adoption betwixt developed and processing countries is increasing each day. We spot the satellite successful 2 wide categories, and antithetic tools are needed for each.

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Developing countries are astatine hazard of falling down astatine a cardinal inflection point. That is wherefore we impulse them to prioritize AI adoption successful sectors that present factual benefits: healthcare, education, vigor infrastructure, agriculture, and citizen-facing authorities services.

Michael Kratsios testifies earlier the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee connected Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness connected Capitol Hill connected Sept. 10, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

For excessively long, countries seeking improvement enactment faced a mendacious choice. We judge the American AI Exports Program offers a antithetic path: trusted best-in-class technology, financing to flooded adoption barriers, and deployment support, truthful governments tin larn however and wherever to usage these tools.

America remains the undisputed person successful AI, from GPUs to information centers to frontier models and applications. That enactment brings with it a work to stock the foundations of a caller epoch of innovation. We basal acceptable to enactment with partners astir the satellite truthful creativity, state and prosperity signifier today’s technological revolution.

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Tanvi Ratna: A batch of governments accidental they privation AI leadership. Your delegation came successful talking astir existent AI sovereignty, rejecting planetary governance, and launching an export programme with aggregate prongs. What is fundamentally antithetic astir this approach, and however should countries recognize the strategy you’re building?

Michael Kratsios: The anticipation of the United States is that the pursuit of existent AI sovereignty, the adoption and deployment of sovereign infrastructure, sovereign data, sovereign models and sovereign policies wrong nationalist borders and nether nationalist control, volition go an juncture for bilateral diplomacy, planetary development, and planetary economical dynamism. The American AI Exports Program exists to marque that happen.

Real AI sovereignty means owning and utilizing best-in-class exertion for the payment of your people, and charting your nationalist destiny successful the midst of planetary transformations. We impulse nations to absorption connected strategical autonomy alongside accelerated AI adoption alternatively than aiming for afloat self-sufficiency. AI adoption cannot pb to a brighter aboriginal if it is taxable to bureaucracies and centralized control.

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We profoundly judge that the champion pathway for the processing satellite to afloat recognize the untold benefits of AI is done the adoption of the American AI stack. The American AI stack has the champion chips, the champion models and the champion applications successful the world, and that is what countries yet request to deploy AI effectively.

Tanvi Ratna: When you accidental the American AI stack, are you talking astir selling products, oregon shaping the instauration connected which countries physique portion keeping delicate information nether nationalist control?

Michael Kratsios: Working with the American AI stack allows nations to physique connected the champion technologies successful the satellite portion keeping delicate information wrong their borders. Independent partners are captious to unlocking the prosperity AI adoption tin deliver. That is wherefore the president launched the American AI Exports Program.

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American companies tin physique large, autarkic AI infrastructure with unafraid and robust proviso chains that minimize backdoor risk. They physique it, and it belongs to the state deploying it.

Michael Kratsios, adjunct to the president and manager of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, speaks astatine the India AI Impact Summit successful New Delhi connected Feb. 21, 2026.

Tanvi Ratna: If this is an adoption strategy, past outgo and complexity go the bottlenecks. Your nationalist remarks stress financing and deployment sophistication arsenic the 2 biggest hurdles for processing countries. How are you really removing those barriers?

Michael Kratsios: Developing countries look 2 large obstacles to AI adoption. One is financing. The AI stack is expensive. Through the vigor and worldly demands of its infrastructure, it brings the integer translation of our satellite backmost into carnal reality. Data centers, semiconductors, powerfulness accumulation each necessitate existent labour and existent resources.

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The 2nd obstruction is simply a shortage successful the method sophistication needed to deploy AI tools effectively. To code this, we announced a U.S. government-wide suite of enactment initiatives to facilitate planetary adoption of trusted AI systems, make a competitory and interoperable AI ecosystem, and beforehand the American AI Exports Program successful some developed and processing spouse nations.

Tanvi Ratna: Spell retired that suite. What are the prongs, capital, integration, standards, execution, and which agencies are being activated?

Michael Kratsios: We unveiled a caller acceptable of initiatives crossed the national authorities supporting the American AI Exports Program, which was launched by enforcement bid past July.

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The archetypal caller inaugural wrong it is the National Champions Initiative. It is designed to see the starring exertion companies of spouse countries straight into the American AI stack. We privation the champion technologies from each our partners and allies to beryllium portion of that ecosystem wherever the American AI stack goes.

The 2nd is simply a afloat suite of financing and backing opportunities. We are mobilizing enactment done the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Export Import Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and a caller World Bank fund, with further programs launched by Treasury and different parts of the U.S. government. The connection is simple: this is serious. Every imaginable financing avenue is being brought to bear.

The 3rd is the instauration of the U.S. Tech Corps. It is simply a reimagining of however the Peace Corps tin marque an interaction successful the modern era. We are seeking Americans with method backgrounds who tin assistance deploy American exertion abroad, due to the fact that determination is nary amended instrumentality to thrust economical development, wellness improvements, and prime of beingness gains than AI.

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And finally, we judge 1 of the fastest ways to thrust planetary adoption is done standards, peculiarly arsenic the adjacent question of innovation centers connected AI agents. How those agents pass and coordinate their actions volition payment from unified standards, which is wherefore NIST has launched a dedicated initiative.

Tanvi Ratna: The National Champions Initiative is casual to misunderstand. Critics perceive American stack and presume dependency. Your framing suggests the opposite, integrating spouse champions truthful countries bash not person to take betwixt importing the stack and gathering home capability. Is that the point?

Michael Kratsios: Exactly. To integrate spouse federation companies with the American AI stack and guarantee that nary state has to take betwixt completing the stack and processing home AI, we established the National Champions Initiative. Partners request the accidental to physique autochthonal exertion industries, and facilitating that is simply a halfway portion of the exports program.

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Tanvi Ratna: You person besides criticized erstwhile U.S. approaches to AI diffusion for restricting partners. What did that get incorrect strategically?

Michael Kratsios: The erstwhile attack treated partners arsenic second-tier actors with important restrictions connected entree to precocious technology. That was a lose-lose AI diplomacy strategy. It chopped disconnected partners from the champion exertion and constricted American companies from competing globally.

Under President Trump, the United States is rethinking however it advances planetary improvement and however exertion tin present lasting impact. We judge some developed and processing countries tin physique sovereign AI capableness if fixed the chance.

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Tanvi Ratna: Let’s speech astir the Tech Corps, due to the fact that it would beryllium casual to disregard it arsenic a feel-good addition. In your model, it sounds similar an execution layer. What would these teams really bash connected the ground?

Michael Kratsios: These volition beryllium similar Peace Corps volunteers, but the absorption is connected technology. We are looking for radical with method backgrounds who privation to assistance instrumentality AI solutions.

If a state wants to amended agriculture done precision farming, use AI to healthcare systems to amended infirmary efficiency, oregon modernize integer nationalist services, American technologists done the Tech Corps and the Peace Corps volition beryllium capable to enactment those efforts.

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A batch of young radical contiguous attraction profoundly astir real-world impact. What is peculiar astir this infinitesimal is that the United States has unthinkable technology, the champion chips, models, and applications, and we are being much deliberate astir sharing it.

Tanvi Ratna: You enactment antithetic accent connected AI agents and interoperability. Why does the White House spot standards arsenic a strategical lever now?

Michael Kratsios: The adjacent question of AI innovation implicit the adjacent twelvemonth oregon 2 volition halfway connected agents. How those agents pass and orchestrate their actions would payment greatly from unified standards. NIST has launched an inaugural to make standards for agents, truthful these systems tin interoperate securely and effectively.

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Tanvi Ratna: You besides linked this export architecture to proviso chains, from chips to information centers to powerfulness and minerals. Where does Pax Silica fit? Is it the hard backbone complement to the adoption layer?

Michael Kratsios: Pax Silica is simply a broader confederation focused connected proviso concatenation challenges that the United States and galore spouse nations person faced. It is simply a small, prime radical of countries moving unneurotic to alleviate these challenges. India is simply a tremendous addition.

AI adoption depends connected unafraid carnal inputs. The AI stack is tangible: information centers, semiconductors, powerfulness generation. Pax Silica helps code those vulnerabilities portion the exports programme accelerates adoption. They are complementary.

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Tanvi Ratna: Since India hosted the acme and joined Pax Silica, what relation bash you spot for India wrong this strategy?

Michael Kratsios: India is simply a exertion powerhouse. It graduates an unthinkable fig of engineers, has heavy home talent, and is gathering beardown products and applications. We look guardant to moving with them.

India has agelong been a beardown spouse successful however the United States shares exertion abroad. Our large hyperscalers person information centers and probe operations present and employment ample numbers of Indian engineers. We judge galore Indian companies tin yet go portion of the American AI stack.

Tanvi Ratna: When critics framework this arsenic being astir China, you defy that characterization. How does the medication presumption competition?

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Michael Kratsios: We bash not spot this arsenic being astir immoderate 1 competitor. This is astir the information that the United States has the champion AI exertion successful the world, and galore countries privation it successful their ecosystems. We are excited to stock it and physique mutually beneficial partnerships globally.