Trump 2.0 and AI: What’s at Stake for the Indo-Pacific and the Quad?

From Abhivardhan, ft. Genevieve Donnellon-May

I am glad to share an article I co-authored with Genevieve Donnellon-May on "Trump 2.0 and AI: What’s at Stake for the Indo-Pacific and the Quad?" for Modern Diplomacy.

You can read the article here: https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/05/02/trump-2-0-and-ai-whats-at-stake-for-the-indo-pacific-and-the-quad/

What I find rather interesting about this article is that there are some trends we noticed as authors, which should be penned down from an Indo-Pacific angle.

1️⃣ The AI export controls announced in January 2025, days before the conclusion of the Biden Administration in the US Government, unlike what Government of India assumed (reported by Sejal Sharma for The Secretariat at https://thesecretariat.in/article/maga-miga-mega-boost-in-ai-tech-collaboration), would not be discontinued by the Second Trump Administration.

2️⃣ The April 2025 Memorandums on AI governance, intellectual property and vendor issues by Executive Office of the President was quite interesting and changes some dynamics for the US' Indo-Pacific partners, including India and Australia, because there is a market choice approach that needs to be adopted.

3️⃣ Since as discussed by Raymond Sun in his posts, China and US adopt divergent approaches to AI infrastructure dynamics. We have pointed that as well.

Rest? Well, you should read the article. Have a less stressful week folks.