Commentary by Navin Girishankar
Last month, the United States and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Artificial Intelligence Partnership. On the heels of a May 2025 agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States has approved sale of leading-edge semiconductors to state-run companies in the UAE’s G42 and Saudi Arabia’s Humain. Access to American compute power will enable both Gulf countries to export AI-enabled goods and services in sectors such as autonomous logistics, precision agriculture, medical diagnostics, and finance.
The Trump administration aims to ensure that “American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide,” according to Vice President JD Vance. But these agreements miss an essential ingredient of American power: a guarantee that AI-enabled exports generated using American chips will be invoiced and settled in dollars. Giving other countries access to compute gives them the ability to export AI-enabled goods and services globally. That throws up a critical question: in which currency will they settle that trade—dollars, renminbi, or another currency?
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