US President Donald Trump has accused China of fuelling the growing nationwide backlash against AI data centres, claiming Beijing is promoting resistance because the United States is pulling ahead in the global artificial intelligence race. “A big part of it is China,” Trump told Fox News on Tuesday during a California visit focused on the economy ahead of the midterm elections in November“Look, whoever wins the AI race is going to win AI. 02:59 Trump to steer billions from elite universities to AI to counter ChinaTrump alleged that China was actively encouraging resistance to new AI infrastructure in the US. You know that China doesn’t want these … They’re spending a lot of money on promoting ‘don’t … you know, build’ because we’re beating China in AI,” he said. Calling AI data centres a “tremendous thing”, Trump argued that the facilities brought significant economic benefits.