President Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East resulted in $2 trillion in deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. This move is seen by some as an attempt to counter China’s growing influence in the region.

While China has strengthened its commercial ties with key players who have avoided taking sides in the U.S.-China geopolitical tension, Trump’s actions might give the U.S. a competitive advantage.

However, concerns have arisen following Trump’s reversal of a Biden-era policy that restricted the sale of AI-capable chips to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The worry is that these advanced U.S. technologies could end up in the hands of Chinese companies and, ultimately, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

China hawks from both parties expressed concern over the agreement between Trump and the UAE to build a major AI hub outside the U.S., along with deals worth tens of billions of dollars between U.S. firms like Nvidia, ChatGPT, Google, Amazon, and Qualcomm, and Saudi state-backed AI ventures, including direct chip sales.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer stated, “This deal could be dangerous because we don’t know how the Saudis and Emiratis will prevent the CCP from accessing these chips.”

He added, “Eventually, when foreign countries possess American-made chips, the CCP will inevitably gain access to them and their secrets. This is why we’ve had strict export restrictions on these chips.”

Similarly, Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said that “The CCP is actively seeking indirect access to our top tech. Deals like this require scrutiny and verifiable guardrails.”

He added, “We raised concerns about G42 last year for this very reason – and we need safeguards in place before more agreements move forward,” referring to an Emirati AI development company.

By the end of Trump’s trip, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party aimed “to stop advanced U.S. AI chips from falling into the hands of adversaries like the CCP.”

Craig Singleton, China Program Senior Director and Senior Fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Digital, “The ambition is understandable – drawing the Gulf states deeper into the U.S. tech ecosystem is a logical way to counterbalance China’s growing influence. But the devil is in the details.”

He cautioned, “Without rigorous safeguards and clear conditions on technology transfer, there’s a real risk of leakage — whether it’s advanced chips, know-how, or access to AI platforms. If these deals lack meaningful restrictions, they could end up strengthening the very actors they’re meant to contain.”

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to Digital’s inquiries about AI security.

While questions about AI security remain, some reports suggest that the expanded U.S. agreements could solidify the U.S. as a global leader in the emerging technology and shape its development.

However, China has interests in the region beyond AI, including security, economic, and energy sectors, all of which the U.S. seeks to counter.

Trump was the first president to visit the UAE, which security experts told Digital will significantly enhance geopolitical goodwill amidst unrest from the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts and could further boost economic and security ties between Washington and Abu Dhabi.

John Hannah, former national security advisor to Dick Cheney and current Randi & Charles Wax senior fellow at JINSA, told Digital, “Trump showing up and re-committing American military and economic power to support the UAE’s stability, security, and success in a dangerous neighborhood can pay real dividends going forward.”

He added, “Since at least the time of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, there’s been a slow, but noticeable drift in UAE strategy away from its deep reliance on the United States toward more of a hedging policy of playing all sides of the global great game, including an increasingly close relationship with China.”

Hannah explained that a period of American weariness of the Middle East threatened its geopolitical interests in the vital region.

He highlighted that the UAE hosts U.S. troops and its trade with the U.S. – even before the $1.4 trillion deal earlier this year – was worth approximately $35 billion annually.

Hannah stated, “With a country as influential and resource-rich as the UAE, correcting that unhelpful perception and putting the strategic relationship back on a much more positive dynamic is an important goal.”

Digital could not immediately reach the UAE foreign ministry for comment.