Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has urged the U.S. government not to block Chinese AI models, arguing that bans are not "an effective solution" and that American companies should instead systematically identify bottlenecks and compete head-to-head.
In an interview with the Financial Times published Tuesday, Zuckerberg said restricting cutting-edge Chinese AI in the United States would not give American firms a meaningful advantage. Instead, the focus should be on strengthening U.S. competitiveness by addressing structural weaknesses.
Zuckerberg's stance places him in direct opposition to the Trump administration's escalating tech crackdown on China. On Tuesday, the White House unveiled bans targeting imports of new Chinese humanoid robots and power inverters. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has separately warned that Chinese companies could face financial sanctions.
The Meta CEO's position is notable given his company's long-standing rivalry with Chinese tech giants. Meta has invested tens of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure and released its own open-source large language model Llama, positioning it as a Western alternative to Chinese and closed-source AI models.
The intervention adds a prominent corporate voice to a growing debate — one that also saw over 1,100 AI workers sign an open letter this week asking the White House to help pace frontier AI development.
