> Where has Trump's agenda collapsed? I might have missed the press release.

Well, it's too early to say if it has happened in this case. But we've seen it happen again and again, so it will not be a surprise if it happens.

> And why would a curveball on AI throw off an agenda around trade, immigration and military engagement? I don't follow.

Well, trade restrictions against China have just backfired spectacularly. So further trade restrictions may not seem as good an idea. And to start trade wars, you need a strong economy. And at the moment America's economy is entirely driven by the AI bubble, as it is the value of the AI stocks that has separated the economy from the European trend.

It is very likely that military engagement will be driven by, or affected by, developments in AI. And there's no doubt that Taiwan's situation is heavily affected by chip production.

> Do you feel the Chinese government closely controls AI research and timed this response?

No evidence, but I am not naive enough to think it's out of the range of possibility. I don't follow your reasoning, more likely the timing of the release is all they had to modify - which is quite trivial for any government. To not question that would be very naive. They have _every motive_.

> Well, it's too early to say if it has happened in this case

Ah ok, so you’re just guessing. You wrote it as if it had already happened.

And I think you’re confusing the stock market with the broader economy. The economy as a whole is unaffected by AI at this point.

And the trade war with China involved hundreds of industries beyond AI. Most of it is manufacturing. I’m not sure how failure of AI sanctions (questionable conclusion) somehow means the trade issues around machine parts needs to be abandoned.

I agree China has motive but I’ve heard so many claims that the Chinese government doesn’t control research or businesses like TikTok.

> Ah ok, so you’re just guessing. You wrote it as if it had already happened.

That's not a generous reading. I'm saying this is what has happened historically.

Edit: the use of the words "might" and "could" made this pretty clear.

> The economy as a whole is unaffected by AI at this point.

True in terms of no marked effect on GDP. But the stock market and the broader economy are very much linked. See 2008. And the stock market is high on AI.

> I’ve heard so many claims that the Chinese government doesn’t control research or businesses like TikTok.

Even western countries tell tech companies what to do. Do you think an authoritarian government is going to do that more or less? There's a reason they didn't want to sell TikTok.