Democrats are not happy with President Donald Trump’s latest allowances to develop AI in the Middle East. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Sunday criticized the Trump administration’s deal with the United Arab Emirates to build a massive artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Dubai, suggesting the president should have sought to build the hub on American soil.
In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” the Silicon Valley congressman questioned whether the UAE deal aligns with the president’s “America First” philosophy.
“I don’t like the fact that the biggest AI center, research center, is going to be in Dubai,” Khanna said, when asked about the president’s first trip to the region.
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“I mean, what happened to ‘America First?’” he continued. The Democratic party representative also asked why the center was not put in Pennsylvania or in Ohio? He underlined the fact that western Pennsylvania was a place that was especially looking to get massive data centers, and that would create a lot of jobs.
Saudi Arabia is reportedly looking to move away from oil revenue, and hopes to position itself as a hub for AI and a leading centre for AI activity outside the United States. Trump recently announced the $600 billion dollar investment by the Middle East in U.S. defense as a major win, and it would seem that the AI hub could be a generous trade-off.
Moving a major AI center to Dubai raises several implications for the U.S. It could strengthen economic and technological ties between the U.S. and the UAE, promoting collaboration in the growing field of artificial intelligence.
However, it also presents risks, as Dubai’s proximity to China, which has its own ambitious AI goals, might allow sensitive U.S. technologies to be accessed by adversaries. This could undermine U.S. leadership in AI and create security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the deal highlights global competition for technological dominance, potentially shifting power dynamics in the AI sector, with broader geopolitical implications for the U.S.