House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast warned that allowing American tech firms to chase business in China could make the US the ultimate “loser”, in remarks that followed US President Donald Trump’s return from Beijing, where artificial intelligence (AI) was discussed.

“There’s a reason that we don’t sell Lockheed F-35s [or] F-22s to China and beyond that, to Russia, Iran and North Korea,” Mast told a discussion in Washington on Tuesday, referring to the American fighter jets.

“The reason for that is not because we don’t want Lockheed to succeed … It’s because we don’t want [those countries] militarily, or any other way, to be on par with the United States of America … That’s why we don’t sell that technology to them. Because we want to be ahead.”

“I look at AI in the exact same way … Just because we can help some companies win in the United States of America by winning in China doesn’t mean we help the United States of America win. And if anything, we may have forced the United States of America to be a loser in that circumstance,” he added.

Mast, speaking at a fireside chat organised by the Centre for a New American Security, was responding to a question on how the US should approach artificial intelligence talks with China.

Washington and Beijing agreed to hold further dialogue on AI following Trump’s visit to China last week, with the Chinese foreign ministry saying that the two countries, as “leading AI powers … need to work together to promote the development of AI and improve its governance”.