As artificial intelligence reshapes the architecture of global power, the United States finds itself navigating a familiar tension between the impulse to lead and the fear of being overtaken. Donald Trump's announcement of an AI task force and special envoy — vague in detail but pointed in intent — reflects less a coherent regulatory vision than a geopolitical reflex: keep American industry unshackled while China races toward its own declared goal of AI dominance by 2030. The approaching meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping places this rivalry at the highest diplomatic table, where the questio