World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm backed by President Donald Trump, is collaborating with a Hong Kong-based venture called WorldClaw that provides access to artificial intelligence models from Chinese companies. A review of WorldClaw’s website found that 43 of its 90 available AI models were developed by Chinese firms, including Alibaba, Baidu, and Z.ai. The U.S. administration has previously flagged these specific companies for national security and intellectual property concerns.
WorldClaw functions as an aggregator, allowing customers to use various AI models in exchange for payment, including World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin. The Trump family maintains a 38% ownership stake in World Liberty Financial and receives a percentage of revenue from the use of its tokens. While WorldClaw describes itself as an independently operated company, World Liberty executive Ryan Fang serves as an external adviser to the venture. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who co-founded World Liberty, have also promoted WorldClaw on social media.
Some of the Chinese companies whose models are offered through WorldClaw face specific U.S. government restrictions. The Department of Defense has designated Alibaba and Baidu as Chinese military-aligned companies, while Z.ai is on the Department of Commerce’s "entity list," which restricts its access to U.S. technology. Other models on the platform come from DeepSeek and Moonshot, firms that administration officials have accused of intellectual property theft. Alibaba and other firms have disputed these designations, with Alibaba calling its inclusion on the Pentagon list "arbitrary and capricious."
The scale of the financial relationship involves substantial sums; Reuters reported in June 2026 that the Trump family has earned more than $1.4 billion from World Liberty token sales out of a total of $2.3 billion in crypto-related income. WorldClaw reports that its "WorldRouter" tool already serves more than 10,000 users and processes over 50 million tasks per day. For the average user, this means that fees paid in USD1 stablecoins to access AI services contribute to the interest income earned by the Trump family’s trust. World Liberty earns a percentage of interest on the U.S. Treasury securities that back the USD1 stablecoin.
The collaboration sets a precedent for how high-level government officials may maintain private business ties to foreign technology sectors that their own administrations have targeted with restrictions. It also highlights the growing global adoption of less expensive Chinese AI models by U.S.-linked firms despite official warnings. What happens next depends on a planned summit between President Trump and President Xi Jinping scheduled for next month, where AI competition and regional tensions are expected to be discussed. Additionally, Alibaba has stated it intends to sue the U.S. government to be removed from the Pentagon's list of military-aligned companies.