A cryptocurrency company backed by U.S. President Donald Trump is collaborating with a Hong Kong based venture that provides access to artificial intelligence models developed by Chinese companies facing U.S. national security restrictions.
WorldClaw offers access to 90 AI models through its platform and accepts World Liberty Financial’s crypto tokens as payment. A Reuters review found that 43 of those models were developed by Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Baidu and Z.ai.
Trump Family Stands to Benefit
The collaboration has drawn scrutiny because the Trump family owns a 38% stake in World Liberty Financial and earns revenue from the use of its crypto tokens.
WorldClaw accepts World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin for its AI services. The stablecoin is backed by traditional assets including U.S. Treasury securities, with the Trump family entitled to a share of the interest generated by those assets.
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Reuters could not determine how much revenue the Trump family has earned specifically from WorldClaw.
Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have also publicly promoted WorldClaw, while World Liberty executive Ryan Fang has served as an adviser to the company.
Chinese AI Firms Face U.S. Restrictions
Several Chinese companies whose models are available through WorldClaw have faced action from the Trump administration.
Alibaba and Baidu have been designated by the U.S. Department of Defense as Chinese military aligned companies. Z.ai has been placed on the Commerce Department’s entity list, restricting its access to certain U.S. technologies.
WorldClaw also offers models from DeepSeek and Moonshot, Chinese firms that U.S. officials have accused of taking intellectual property from American AI companies.
The Chinese companies have disputed various U.S. allegations and restrictions.
Potential Security Concerns
Experts told Reuters that the availability of Chinese AI models could create security and privacy concerns for users.
Potential risks include Chinese government monitoring, censorship of AI outputs and the possibility of malicious code being introduced into AI agent systems.
WorldClaw says it takes security and privacy seriously and applies safeguards to its platform. It also acknowledges that user inputs may be shared with the companies providing the AI models.
Tension With Trump’s China Policy
The collaboration creates an apparent contradiction in U.S. policy toward Chinese technology.
The Trump administration has repeatedly stressed the need for the United States to compete with China in artificial intelligence while imposing restrictions on Chinese companies considered security risks.
At the same time, Chinese AI models are increasingly being adopted globally because they are often cheaper than their American alternatives.
Experts therefore see two competing approaches within the administration: confronting Chinese technology on national security grounds while allowing business relationships that provide access to Chinese AI.
WorldClaw Defends the Partnership
World Liberty said WorldClaw is an independent company and argued that American technology companies also provide access to both Chinese and U.S. AI models.
WorldClaw similarly said that making a model available does not amount to endorsing its developer.
The White House said there were no conflicts of interest and that Trump acts in the interests of the American public.
Analysis
The controversy highlights a growing tension between U.S. national security policy and the commercialisation of artificial intelligence.
Washington is increasingly treating advanced AI as a strategic technology comparable to other critical technologies, particularly because of its potential military and intelligence applications. Yet businesses have strong incentives to use cheaper and increasingly capable Chinese models.
The World Liberty WorldClaw relationship adds another layer because of the Trump family’s financial interests. Even if the arrangement is legal, the commercial relationship creates questions about whether the administration’s restrictive approach toward Chinese technology is being applied consistently.
The broader issue is therefore not simply whether Chinese AI models can legally be accessed in the United States. It is whether commercial incentives could undermine the strategic technology restrictions Washington is simultaneously trying to enforce.
As the U.S. China AI competition intensifies, cases such as this could increasingly test the boundaries between national security, technological openness and political financial interests.
With information from Reuters.
