BRUSSELS — A senior U.S. official has urged the European Union to align itself with a Washington-led initiative focused on artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology. The U.S. initiated the Pax Silica global alliance in December with the aim of countering China’s dominance by securing supply chains essential for AI, which encompass critical minerals, semiconductors, energy, and hardware.
However, during a recent meeting, representatives from EU member states were unable to secure approval for the European Commission to commence formal negotiations with the U.S. State Department regarding participation in this club.
On Monday, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg intensified the pressure on Brussels to join the initiative. He stated,
“Pax Silica is knitting together the trusted network the AI race requires. Europe belongs in that network. The question is whether Brussels will let it show up,”
as he shared on social media platform X.
Helberg’s trip to Brussels is part of a broader European tour that will also take him to the Netherlands, France, and the U.K. The EU’s decision on joining Pax Silica is particularly timely given the current state of transatlantic relations. The bloc is deliberating its level of collaboration with the U.S. on sensitive technologies like semiconductors and is preparing to unveil a strategy in May aimed at reducing dependencies.
In December, the European Commission had sent its ambassador to the U.S., Jovita Neliupšienė, to the launch summit of Pax Silica, participating in discussions concerning critical minerals and economic security. Since that time, preliminary discussions between the Commission and the U.S. have been ongoing.
So far, two EU nations, Sweden and Greece, have independently endorsed the Pax Silica declaration. The Netherlands, which hosts ASML—the developer of the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment—attended the inaugural summit but refrained from signing the declaration.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also criticized the EU’s digital regulations, which it argues unfairly disadvantage American companies. During his remarks on Monday, Helberg condemned the EU’s approach to AI, claiming that the bloc is “regulating its way into irrelevance.” He characterized the EU’s legislative framework, including the AI Act, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the Data Act, as “innovation killers,” echoing prior U.S. critiques of EU technology regulations.
Last week, Helberg co-authored an opinion piece with Andrew Puzder, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, which asserted that “Europe trips itself up in the AI race.”