Authored by Julio Rivera via American Greatness,
President Trump was right about China.
Long before it became conventional wisdom in Washington, he recognized that America wasn't simply competing with another trading partner. China was executing a long-term strategy to dominate the industries that would define the 21st century. From manufacturing and telecommunications to semiconductors and artificial intelligence, Beijing understood that technological leadership translates directly into economic and geopolitical power.Artificial intelligence is the next front in that competition, and the United States cannot afford to get it wrong. The greatest danger isn't that China builds a better AI model. It's that China builds the AI platform the rest of the world decides to use. Those are two very different contests.
Recent research suggests Beijing has chosen a strategy designed for long-term dominance rather than short-term profits. A June 2026 analysis by FourthWeb concluded that "Chinese open source AI models have quietly surpassed their American competitors" on several important benchmarks while "U.S. companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have gone increasingly proprietary." Another report, China's Open Source Strategy and Its Global Implications, found that Chinese firms, including Alibaba and DeepSeek, are making "a huge bet on open source," releasing state-of-the-art AI models for anyone to use, improve, and build upon.
That isn't generosity. It's geopolitical strategy. When Alibaba released its Qwen models, developers didn't simply download them. They began creating new products, businesses, and applications on top of them. Today there are more than 180,000 derivative versions in 119 languages. Every one of those projects pulls more developers, companies, and institutions into China's technological ecosystem.
Technology works a lot like language. The language everyone learns eventually becomes the language everyone speaks. The operating system everyone builds on becomes the operating system that dominates the market. The AI platform developers choose today will influence which country sets the standards tomorrow.
China understands that better than many people on Capitol Hill and in Silicon Valley. Some of America's leading AI companies have taken the opposite approach. Rather than encouraging widespread adoption, they are moving toward increasingly closed systems that maximize subscription revenue and centralized control. That may be good for quarterly earnings, but it limits how quickly American technology spreads throughout the global economy.
FourthWeb captured the contrast in one sentence: "Chinese open models winning on capability, U.S. closed models winning on revenue."
Lawmakers need to understand that Silicon Valley revenue matters, but winning matters more. History shows that the cheapest and easiest technology often becomes the global standard. Businesses rarely choose the most expensive option simply because it's American. They choose the platform that is flexible, affordable, and easy to integrate into existing operations.
Open-source AI gives startups, manufacturers, hospitals, and even allied governments the ability to deploy powerful models on their own infrastructure while keeping sensitive information in-house. They aren't forced to send proprietary data through someone else's servers or commit to increasingly expensive licensing agreements.
Some organizations have reportedly reduced AI deployment costs by as much as two-thirds by using open models such as Alibaba's Qwen. That's the kind of economic advantage businesses notice.
If the most affordable, adaptable AI platform in the world is Chinese, companies around the globe will build on Chinese technology. Once that happens, China gains something far more valuable than another software customer. It gains influence over the next generation of digital infrastructure.
America shouldn't hand Beijing that opportunity.
Closed AI models create another strategic problem. They concentrate technological power inside a small number of corporations. If America's AI future depends on two or three dominant companies, innovation inevitably narrows. Smaller firms struggle to compete. Universities face higher barriers to experimentation. Manufacturers become customers instead of innovators. Entrepreneurs spend more time paying licensing fees than building new products.
That isn't how America became the world's technology leader. Our greatest strength has always been broad participation. We led the personal computer revolution because thousands of companies competed. We led the internet revolution because innovators could build without asking permission. America has always won by expanding opportunity, not restricting it.
Artificial intelligence should be no different.
Anthropic has made no secret of its preference for closed AI models. The company argues that limiting access reduces the risks of misuse, cybercrime, and disinformation. Those concerns deserve serious consideration. Advanced AI carries real risks, and policymakers should not dismiss them.
But those safety concerns also align with a business model built around proprietary technology, recurring subscriptions, and centralized control.
Policymakers should recognize that what serves a company's commercial interests does not always serve America's strategic interests. A closed ecosystem may maximize revenue for a handful of firms, but it also limits the number of developers, startups, manufacturers, and researchers who can build on American technology. At a time when China is encouraging global adoption of its open-source models, that tradeoff deserves far more attention than it has received.
There is also a practical consideration. Anthropic's Claude models have become increasingly expensive to deploy at scale. Large corporations may be able to absorb those costs, but many startups, universities, and midsize businesses cannot. High prices inevitably slow adoption, and adoption is what ultimately determines which technological ecosystem becomes the global standard.
The country whose AI is used by the greatest number of builders - not simply the one with the most valuable AI company - will enjoy the greatest long-term strategic advantage.
President Trump correctly challenged the assumption that America could outsource strategic industries without consequences. Artificial intelligence deserves the same level of urgency.
Capitol Hill shouldn't measure success by the market capitalization of a handful of AI companies. It should measure success by how many American businesses build on American technology, how many universities teach it, how many entrepreneurs launch companies with it, and how many allies choose American AI over Chinese alternatives.
The AI race won't be won by whichever company reports the strongest quarterly earnings. It will be won by whichever country creates the largest community of innovators. China has already made its choice. America should make its own before the rest of the world makes it for us.
Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, cybersecurity researcher, founder of ItFunk.org and ReactionaryTimes.com, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, focused on cybersecurity and politics, has appeared in major publications around the world.
Tyler Durden Wed, 07/22/2026 - 23:25Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to hold an important, rare meeting on Thursday to address shaky bilateral relations in the context of the Ukraine war, as well as recent nuclear rhetoric out of European NATO countries.
The Kremlin is especially alarmed at the German government's intent to gain access to nuclear weapons, based on new defense agreements with France and its 'nuclear umbrella'. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz unveiled late last week: "Alongside this work on a shared doctrine, German conventional forces will this year take part in a nuclear exercise of the French military."
The Russian FM has newly responded just the day prior to the Rubio meeting: "And this is truly alarming, considering that, for example, the US nuclear program was largely created by people who fled Germany and were taken there. That memory does not fade."
via Associated PressLavrov in the remarks to the press previewing the top level dialogue warned that ongoing US aggression in places like Iran and the Middle East could push an array of non-nuclear sakes to quickly seek atomic weapons, on fears of attack from Washington or its allies.
The meeting with Rubio will be "useful in any case" Lavrov stated, underscoring that Moscow has many open, pressing questions for the Trump administration concerning its current policies. "It's better to ask questions directly and receive answers," Lavrov noted.
Lavrov seized on some of President Trump's recent comments on forging peace in Ukraine, at a moment the air war has clearly been ramping up, especially given that Ukrainian drone strikes have increasingly penetrated into the Moscow region. "Regarding Trump's prediction of an imminent settlement, I will ask Marco Rubio tomorrow," Lavrov said according to TASS.
He also said that Russia continues to adhere to principles put forward at the Putin-Trump Alaska summit in Anchorage, in August 2025. "We assume that, at least for now, our American colleagues have not revoked their own proposals, which were voiced in Anchorage and which are now well known to everyone," Lavrov stated.
But he also previewed that he'll raise the issue of deepening US involvement with Ukrainian intelligence and the military, per TASS:
The US is not simply assisting, but directly participating in, the targeting of Ukrainian weapons at facilities in Russia, including civilian ones:
"But of all people, the Americans, through arms supplies funded by the European Union and through the provision of intelligence - the Starlink system and much more - are not simply assisting, but directly participating in the targeting of Ukrainian weapons at facilities, including civilian ones, on Russian territory."
Concerning the ongoing tit-for-tat attacks on Black Sea shipping, as well as the question of a safe energy corridor, the top Russian diplomat said, "When asked about the Black Sea Initiative, the answer is short: there were no proposals."
Lavrov also said to reporters that recent claims out of Eastern European and Baltic leaders that Russia is preparing some kind of attack or sabotage inside the EU is a fabrication and born out of sensationalism and propaganda.
"Vladimir Putin was asked about the EU's preparations for war, and he very clearly answered that we have no intention of attacking anyone, but if they, having once again gathered all of Europe under certain banners, try to attack us, it will no longer be a conventional war. It will be a different kind of war," Lavrov warned
Germany's Chancellor Merz:
For the first time, I have accepted the offer made by the French President to jointly think about nuclear deterrence.
Historically speaking, General Charles de Gaulle had already offered the Federal Republic of Germany a French nuclear umbrella many… pic.twitter.com/lIug2JjqVB
Lavrov also highlighted the persisting Iran conflict in the pre-Rubio meeting remarks, saying it's hard to speculate, but "I have the feeling that continuing hostilities is not in the interests of either the United States or Iran."
Russia wants the Hormuz crisis to quickly end, Lavrov said. He also batted down allegations that Russia is weaponizing the Iranian side and helping fuel the war, saying this is "embarrassing to hear" and that ultimately "We want this to stop. It affects the global economy, and Russia is part of the global economy."
Currently, the Russian military seems bent on 'punishing' Ukraine for its long-range strikes deep inside Russian territory, which has hit oil depots and key energy sites in particular. This has included huge ballistic missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital. These salvos have been getting bigger and bigger of late.
Tyler Durden Wed, 07/22/2026 - 23:00