U.S. Vice President JD Vance has arrived in France as part of a European trip that will focus the new Trump administration's attention on the regulation of artificial intelligence and the war in Ukraine, as Vance plans meetings with world leaders ranging from French President Emmanuel Macron to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The new vice president, who had served less than two years in the Senate before Trump picked him as a running mate, will attend the AI summit in Paris hosted by Modi and Macron, who has already announced more than $100 billion in planned European investment into the technology.
Vance will then travel on to the German city of Munich for an annual security conference, that in recent years has become a key discussion forum on support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia. There Vance may once more meet with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, as he did last year, and perhaps give a clearer indication of the Trump administration's plans for Ukraine.
In recent days, Trump said he had spoken with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and has said he is considering stronger sanctions against Moscow. But during his presidential campaign last year he questioned the Biden administration's costly military support for Kyiv in the form of U.S. funding and weapons.
In Paris, Vance may also outline American opposition to a tighter global AI regulatory framework, at a time when U.S. technology firms are moving quickly to develop artificial intelligence tools that may have significant impacts on the government and economies of developed countries, as well as significant security implications.
Europe has earned a reputation in recent years for a more stringent and even cautious approach to the new technology, while the U.S. and – more recently – China boast booming businesses in the sector, with authorities in Beijing and Washington vying to help those domestic champions dominate the new industry.
Vance will likely use the summit in Paris to push back on further AI regulation, as part of the Trump administration's muscular "America First" approach to global affairs in general, before reiterating a common Trump refrain while in Europe: that military allies need to further ramp up spending that supports NATO and Ukraine.
The vice president has said he hopes his meetings with world leaders in Paris will also lead to a breakthrough on the grinding Ukraine-Russia conflict as it approaches its fourth year. "I think there's a lot that some of the leaders who are present at the AI summit could do to, frankly — bring the Russia-Ukraine conflict to a close," he told Breitbart news.
Trump had once promised to end the conflict on his first day back in office, but has recently altered that prediction to allow for the first six months of his new administration.
European officials and policymakers will also listen carefully to any pronouncements from Vance about the possibility of trade tariffs on European products, after Trump imposed 10% duties on Chinese goods and continues to threaten tariffs against Mexico and Canada. Indeed, Trump introduced some against European products including Italian cheese and French wine during his first administration.
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