White House postpones decision on more regulation over fast-growing AI market as it may affect US competitiveness with rivals globally
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenYuanyue Dangin WashingtonandLucy Quagginin New YorkPublished: 3:47am, 22 May 2026US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he postponed the signing of a planned executive order on regulating artificial intelligence (AI), out of concern it might undermine America’s leading position over China in the field.“We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.The signing ceremony, which was originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon, was delayed “because I didn’t like certain aspects” of the new regulations, Trump said.
“We have a very substantial standard on AI, it’s causing – it’s causing tremendous good, and it’s also bringing in a lot of jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs,” Trump said, adding, “again, we have more people working right now than we’ve ever had. I really thought that could have been a blocker.”
4:52How does China plan to dominate the global humanoid robot market?US media, citing sources, reported that the decision to initiate formal regulatory procedures stemmed from concerns that AI was becoming increasingly powerful and could pose a security risk to the US.
