Trump is trying to reinvent 1950 with his tariffs. He should be planning for 2050

President Donald Trump is overhauling the wrong economic policies, industry experts say, and it could cost America the high-stakes artificial intelligence race against China.

President Donald Trump is overhauling the wrong economic policies, industry experts say, and it could cost America the high-stakes artificial intelligence race against China. Trump last week announced sweeping tariffs to reinvigorate US manufacturing, an industry that’s been in decline for decades. But the tariffs — along with gutting funding for universities and calls to dismantle the CHIPS Act — could sabotage America’s momentum in the AI race. While the Trump administration says it recognizes the importance of remaining a global leader in AI — even announcing hundreds of billions in investments for the development of AI infrastructure — some of the administration’s actions are counterproductive. Stiff tariffs won’t usher in the economic success Trump is seeking, according to most economists. Meanwhile, the competition in the AI race has only been heating up, as Chinese startup DeepSeek unveiled a powerful model in January. “Trump and his advisers see the world in a 19th century perspective, wanting to return to a manufacturing economy,” Susan Ariel Aaronson, research professor of international affairs at George Washington University, told CNN. “AI now underpins a lot of other technologies that could be even more important, and the United States really needs to invest in that.” Employment in the US manufacturing industry began to decline after reaching a peak in the late 1970s, according to Labor Department data, shrinking by an even faster pace around the turn of the century.