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OPINION:
The mindsets of technological governance are out of date. America will not win the race for artificial intelligence leadership if it tries to go slow and overregulate, but that is precisely what the Biden administration’s overly broad policy on AI diffusion did. The policy harms AI innovation at home and restrains cooperation with allies abroad. It must change, starting with our allies.
In its last days in office, the Biden administration issued its rule on AI diffusion, classifying countries into three tiers: allies, others and adversaries. Although all of Western Europe is categorized as an ally, Portugal is lumped into the second category of everyone else that isn’t an adversary. This was a policy mistake.
It has been rumored that the Trump administration is considering eliminating the tiered approach in favor of government-to-government agreements with partner countries. This would be welcome news. The tiered approach is bad public policy and does nothing to improve America’s leadership in AI.
The Biden administration’s logic was driven exclusively by optics, not facts. The Biden rule excludes Portugal, Switzerland, Poland and others.
With all the attention, understandably, on NATO’s eastern flank and the war in Ukraine, it is easy to forget that Lisbon was a founding member of the alliance and continues to play a vital role in collective defense and security. With the Azores and Lajes air base, Portugal extends deep into the Atlantic Ocean and serves as a launch point for U.S. military flights and maritime operations. It is also a little-known transit point for key subsea cables that enhance data resilience and communications between North America and Europe.
Portugal is a technological ally and partner. It banned Huawei and ZTE from its networks and rejected China’s Belt and Road financing. It maintains high cybersecurity standards, outpacing many of its European Union counterparts, so much so that it is a growing destination of choice for investment for many companies looking to build data centers and connect those subsea cables.
Start Campus, a $40 billion data center, is 100% free from direct or indirect Chinese or Russian investment. No personnel, contractors or service providers are sourced from or connected to Beijing or Moscow.
If the diffusion rule is maintained, Start Campus will miss export opportunities. Many American products and jobs would be left on the table, changing a trade win for the United States into a break-even at best. That is just one investment. If Portugal is lumped in with “everyone else,” Lisbon would have fewer incentives to work with Washington and Portuguese companies would have fewer incentives to work with their Silicon Valley counterparts. That would be bad for business and American leadership.
A more strategic approach to AI diffusion and cooperation would treat Portugal and other allies consistently. This would enable the rapid, secure deployment of U.S.-led AI infrastructure and reinforce the coalition needed to maintain American global leadership. Such an approach would benefit national and economic security, the U.S. trade balance and global competitiveness.
President Trump has an opportunity to undo a Biden-era policy misstep and advance his administration’s “America First” technology agenda. Whether by elevating Portugal and other like-minded countries to the category of “ally,” a designation it deserves, or scrapping the optics-driven categorization system, the president would secure a win for his administration and the United States. Our allies stand ready to support the administration’s forward-leaning, partnership-based AI infrastructure strategy. They just need the right policy moves from Washington to enable that critically important cooperation.
Correction: An earlier version of this column misidentified Start Campus in one reference.
• Diane Rinaldo is a former acting administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and former acting assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information. She is one of the country’s leading authorities on 5G, telecommunications supply chain security and privacy.
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