Hal Brands Says U.S. AI Slowdown Would Need Diplomacy or Coercion to Check China

A Bloomberg Opinion column by Hal Brands has sharpened the fight over whether the United States can slow frontier AI while staying ahead of China, framing the available levers as diplomacy or coercion. The debate now spans AI labs, Washington and Beijing after industry leaders called for pacing model development and President Donald Trump rejected broad guardrails as a threat to U.S. dominance.