Can China Catch Up on AI?

Foreign Policy Live

Foreign Policy

Politics, News Commentary, News

4 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chinese exports of rare earths, a critical component in manufacturing high-end tech products, emerged as a key sticking point in this week’s trade talks between Beijing and Washington. Underpinning all of this is the race for artificial intelligence supremacy. Who is winning this competition? Who is best placed to control the supply chains of all the components that go into the top chips and AI models? Jared Cohen and George Lee, the co-heads of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, join FP Live. Note: This discussion is part of a series of episodes brought to you by the Goldman Sachs Global Institute. Jared Cohen: The AI Economy’s Massive Vulnerability Rishi Iyengar & Lili Pike: Is It Too Late to Slow China’s AI Development? Vivek Chilukuri: How the United States Can Win the Global Tech Race Brought to you by: nordvpn.com/fplive (Exclusive NordVPN Deal: Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Ravi Agruwal, Foreign Policy's Editor-in-Chief.
0:06.0	This is FP Live.
0:11.0	So there were long trade talks this week in London between China and the US.
0:15.0	From the United States and China met for a second day in London to negotiate on terror.
0:20.0	We are just beginning to get some details, but one thing seems clear.
0:24.6	Rare Earths were an important part of the discussions.
0:28.6	These are elements near the bottom of the periodic table that everybody saw on their
0:33.6	dysprosium, gadolinium.
0:35.6	Now, these are the types of critical minerals that are used to make high-end magnets or chips,
0:41.5	basically the building blocks of cutting-edge technology.
0:45.4	And China has a near complete monopoly on the production and processing of these rare earths.
0:52.0	So after Trump imposed massive tariffs on China earlier this year, Beijing began to restrict
0:58.2	access to those rare earths.
1:00.8	That brought the two sides back to the table.
1:03.7	All of this is one part of a new great game, and the prize this time is AI supremacy. The United States and China are engaged
1:14.2	in a race for the best technological systems as well as for the control of the supply chains that
1:20.7	get them there. So I wanted to look at the dynamics of this competition this week. The United
1:27.3	States is currently ahead, we think, but by how much?
1:31.9	And does China's closed system where it can get the private and public sectors to walk
1:37.0	in lockstep give it an advantage?
1:40.8	You add to all of that, how does global capital, energy, and geopolitics factor into all of this?
1:48.1	Well, my guests this week are well placed to give us a 30,000-foot view on the AI race between China and the United States.
	...

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