The Trump administration is advancing two major initiatives aimed at reinforcing U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence while countering China’s growing influence. The first is a planned executive order that would establish a voluntary framework for AI model reviews, allowing national security agencies to scrutinize frontier AI systems before public release. The second is the ExportAI Initiative, a multibillion-dollar export financing program to help foreign buyers purchase American AI technology, including advanced chips from Nvidia.
According to a White House briefing led by the Office of the National Cyber Director, the AI review order would require companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Reflection AI to notify the government before major launches and potentially grant agencies up to 90 days of pre-release access. The reviews would involve several agencies, with the National Security Agency (NSA) having final say after coordination with the Treasury Department, CISA, and NIST. The plan emerged after Anthropic demonstrated its Mythos model to select researchers last month, sparking internal debates over the appropriate level of pre-launch scrutiny.
The order also includes a cybersecurity provision targeting the Pentagon, hospitals, and financial institutions, alongside efforts to expand the U.S. Tech Force by hiring more AI specialists. Treasury would lead a 30-day push to create a clearinghouse for identifying and fixing security vulnerabilities, with support from the NSA and CISA.
Separately, the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) is set to approve the ExportAI Initiative, which offers loan guarantees, insurance, and direct loans for international purchases of U.S. AI technology. The Commerce Department must still approve export licenses for sensitive items, such as Nvidia’s advanced chips. The move is widely seen as a direct response to DeepSeek, a Chinese AI firm whose open-source model—built on Huawei chips—has gained traction globally and is accused by some U.S. firms of misappropriating technology. The Biden administration had previously restricted chip exports to China; now, the Trump administration is shifting to actively financing exports to allies.
