Senator Andy Kim Encourages Pragmatic Relationship as U.S. and China Compete in Technological Development

U.S. Senator Andrew N. “Andy” Kim (D-N.J.) said that the United States must find a balance between competition and cooperation with China in order to continue driving technological advancements at a Thursday Institute of Politics forum.

In the Thursday forum, titled “Global Competitiveness and the Path Forward with Senator Andy Kim,” he stressed the need for a pragmatic approach to handling tensions between the U.S. and China as global competition over technological advancement increases.

Kim said that the United States is “living in the most globally competitive moment that any human being on this planet has ever witnessed,” as both China and the U.S. pursue “unprecedented, unprecedented technological velocity with innovation surging.”

Ned C. Price, the counselor to the IOP who moderated Thursday’s event, asked Kim about the “increasingly urgent dialogue” emerging in the U.S. about the desire to maintain a technological edge over China while balancing a need for safety and regulation as technology continues to develop.

Kim said that it was critical for the U.S. to put “our strongest foot forward when it comes to driving the innovation of the future,” adding that the Trump administration’s posture on artificial intelligence especially has made it more difficult to engage in bipartisan discussions over technology and safety.

“Trump’s approach on this is so off,” Kim said. “I mean, it’s really frustrating to see the situation right now, where because of Trump’s comments, I’m having a hard time engaging some of the Republicans in Congress on what should be really a common sense understanding of how we approach AI safety and security.”

He referenced Trump’s “incoherent policy of offering high-end chips” as one measure that has risked the United States’ competitive edge over China. Trump announced a change to the Department of Commerce’s regulatory standards in December 2025, which relaxed control over the export of advanced AI chips to China.

Kim said that the influx of American technology to China has allowed Chinese technology developers “to undercut us and outrun us in so many ways.”

“Essentially China is training their models off of our models. Using our models because, instead of needing all the compute power that we use for our frontier, they’re able to just kind of train off of our models and distill a lot of what they need to be able to build,” Kim said.

But Kim stressed that the United States cannot and should not seek to dominate every sector.

“A sense of pragmatism is necessary not just in our relationship with China but just writ large in our relationships,” he said.

Kim argued that the U.S. needs to diversify supply chains, establish communication between the U.S. and China across all levels of government, and address nuclear proliferation rather than aim for grand bargains. But he said that the way that President Donald Trump has engaged with Chinese leaders so far has damaged the United States’ credibility abroad. He referenced conversations earlier this year at the Munich Security Conference, where European leaders framed the United States as “a national security threat now.”

But he stressed that “it’s critical that we find ways to inhabit it together and avoid destabilizing competition that could lead to conflict.”

“A successful approach on China does not mean turning a blind eye or minimizing these harmful actions. Instead, it demands concerted strategy to reduce our vulnerabilities while engaging China to reduce the risks of mistakes, misunderstandings, and miscalculations,” he added.

An audience member asked Kim how Chinese students should navigate feeling “stuck between the two administrations” as tensions between the countries escalate. Kim argued that it is still important to not villainize China amid ongoing competition.

“It’s important right now more than ever to have more person-to-person relationships frankly between the United States and any country,” he said.