U.S. Expands AI Bloc to 35 Countries While Export Controls on Its Own Models Stall Allied Purchases

The U.S. -led AI and chip supply-chain bloc. Thirty-five countries signed the Declaration on AI Opportunity as part of the effort, Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg announced.

The expansion followed the U.S. government placing export controls on Anthropic's newest AI models. Axios reported that the move came as Chinese models close the capability gap and offer lower costs.

-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said during a Center for a New American Security panel that the approach mirrors the Huawei strategy in open-source AI. She added that China can supply models and infrastructure at no cost or lower cost, potentially creating a "Huawei model on steroids" in the Global South.

Daniel Remler of CNAS, a former State Department technology adviser, said the industry remains frozen after the Anthropic decision while waiting for a more coherent policy.

He noted the concern given China's speed. Saif Khan, former counselor for critical and emerging technologies to the Secretary of Commerce, said many countries now call for AI sovereignty and will likely prefer Chinese open-weight models over U.S. frontier models.

Helberg criticized digital sovereignty efforts as backward and counterproductive, describing them as synchronized mediocrity. Omran Sharaf, the United Arab Emirates' assistant foreign minister for advanced science and technology, said the UAE seeks strategic autonomy through collaboration with trusted partners.

Technology deployment goals.