President Donald Trump has announced the US is putting tariffs on goods from other countries across the globe.
There will be a 10 percent charge on UK imports as a result, one of the lower charges on the long list of tariffed countries the President displayed at the White House yesterday. Some of the highest tariffed countries include Vietnam (46 percent), Cambodia (49 percent), Sri Lanka (44 percent), Myanmar (44 percent) and China (34 percent).
Audiences have scratched their heads at the formula used to come up with tariff figures – the US government dividing each country’s trade in goods deficit by the total value of imports, and then halving it.
At the start of this year, Trump announced the Stargate project – a $500 billion bet alongside OpenAI and SoftBank to transform America’s AI infrastructure. Shortly after, Chinese startup Deepseek revealed its latest chatbot, sending waves through tech markets and famously plummeting AI chip maker Nvidia’s market cap.
The UK and France also announced their own AI investment projects. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced ‘AI Growth Zones’ in the region, whilst President Macron announced a partnership with eight countries to bolster AI innovation. Clearly, there is a global race to the top when it comes to AI innovation and infrastructure. News of the tariffs have thrown the global economy into chaos – but what impact could this have on AI innovation and investment?
FutureWeek spoke to tech leaders across AI and marketing to find out how recent news of the US tariffs could impact AI infrastructure – at a time when governments are so hungry for innovation.
How Could Trump’s Tariffs Impact AI Innovation?
Adit Abhyankar, CEO, Breakthrough
“If the cost of building the infrastructure and importing chips to the US go up, given the fact that building new fabs is a multi-decade endeavor, the obvious implication is that AI model training may move offshore. As is, the cost of developing AI models is extremely expensive – recent innovations by Deepseek notwithstanding. If the chips that power the computation need to increase in cost as a result of tariffs, it is highly likely that companies will move model training offshore as these costs are a huge proportion of the total operating and R&D budgets of AI companies.
“This creates two secondary effects: 1) Comparatively, it becomes cheaper for any AI company to build models using hardware outside the US, so the US risks losing its AI advantage. Why would they want to build a team in the US, if they have to do all the research on infrastructure that is offshore? 2) Once data is moved outside the US, what does that mean for data security, privacy and complying with US legislation in general?
“In the AI world, businesses move to where they can get financing, talent, compute and data resources needed to develop the models. So far, the US has been leading on all three. However, if the cost of building models makes the US less competitive, you open a door to non-US competitors to build better, cheaper models. One thing that is clear is there are almost no switching costs in the AI world currently – any winner of today is at risk of being usurped at any time, if they fall behind.”
Martin Tombs, VP, Move to Cloud, Qlik
“With the US announcing sweeping new tariffs, the ripple effects won’t stop at its borders. Our research shows 40 percent of US supply chain leaders point to EU countries as their biggest tariff-related challenge, while 75 percent are deeply worried about trade unpredictability. That matters to the UK. When US firms feel the pressure, they act – fast. They reengineer supply chains, raise prices, or retreat from global markets altogether. Already, over half have stockpiled goods – a clear sign that the just-in-time model is under strain.
“The UK, which depends heavily on transatlantic trade for critical tech infrastructure, should take this as a wake-up call. Because at the same time, it’s banking on AI to power economic growth. But AI isn’t abstract. It runs on tangible pipelines: data centres, chips, software licenses, bandwidth – and increasingly, skills. And those pipelines are vulnerable to the same global shocks.
“If the UK wants to lead in AI, it can’t afford to be this exposed. This may be the moment to finally assert control over its AI future. That means investing in sovereign AI infrastructure – local compute, domestic skills, and long-term, UK-owned data strategies. Around the world, AI leaders are already doing this. DeepSeek in China, OpenAI’s regional expansions – the message is clear: AI power will rest with nations that build resilience, not rely on handshakes. Yes, tariffs will raise costs and complicate trade. But they also bring clarity. They force hard questions. For the UK, the choice is simple: build or be built around. Now is the time to double down on self-sufficiency, insulate the tech backbone, and design a framework for responsible, secure, cross-border data exchange.
“This disruption may be the catalyst the UK’s AI ambitions needed.”
Cheney Hamilton, Research Analyst, Digital Human Resource Architecture (DHRA)
“The global race for AI dominance has just hit a protectionist speed bump. With the US now proposing a 10 percent tariff on UK imports, part of a wider protectionist policy that could affect global supply chains, we have to ask: what impact will this have on AI innovation and investment?
“AI doesn’t thrive in isolation, but rather it depends on open collaboration, cross-border data flows and access to diverse talent and ideas. When we start adding economic walls, we don’t just shift manufacturing costs, we risk fragmenting the very ecosystems that allow AI to advance safely, ethically, and inclusively. While projects like Stargate ($600 billion+) signal the US’s commitment to leading in AI, protectionist tariffs could actually do the opposite by discouraging international partnerships, slowing down innovation and increasing the cost of collaboration.
“If the goal is long-term global leadership in AI, then the focus should be on interoperability, shared governance and open access, not short-term economic nationalism. This is a pivotal moment for business and government leaders to step up and shape a future where AI innovation is collaborative, not competitive by default.”
Jonathan Whiteside, Global SVP of Experience and Engineering, DEPT
“The new tariffs are destabilising for all industries. Start-ups are often the powerhouses of innovation, and some of the most exciting AI breakthroughs come from these young, agile upstarts. Unfortunately, these will likely see at least a pause in venture capital flow and a knock in investor confidence. But in the long run this has the potential to push European tech companies to new heights on the world stage. We’ve seen in the past that when the chips are down, new and exciting tech booms. Uber, Venmo and Airbnb all launched during times of economic turmoil. These companies are agile, fresh, and often very capable of inspiring hope when business is tough.
“But AI technology brings clarity to business decisions, and that is a real asset in trying times. One sector that is sure to see a shift in the wake of these tariffs is digital marketing. International e-commerce brands will face tighter margins in the US, prompting a pivot from chasing volume to protecting profit. This means moving faster towards data-driven, AI-powered strategies that optimise for net margin. With acquisition costs under scrutiny, brands will need certainty and control – and the tech that delivers both will come out on top.”
