President Trump unveiled a 90-point "America’s AI Action Plan" aimed at cementing U.S. dominance against China through aggressive deregulation and global tech exports. The strategy directs the Commerce and State Departments to create "full-stack AI export packages", bundling hardware, software, and standards for allied nations like the UAE, Japan, and NATO members. This overturns Biden’s "high fence" restrictions on AI chip exports, benefiting firms like Nvidia, AMD, and Microsoft. Three accompanying executive orders fast-track permits for data centers, limit "ideological bias" in government AI, and establish an export program with federal loan guarantees.
To meet surging power demand from data centers, the administration will exempt data centers from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, streamline Clean Water Act permits and open federal lands for AI infrastructure. This follows a recent EPA reversal of the "endangerment finding" that underpinned climate regulations, easing greenhouse gas limits for energy plants powering AI facilities. Critics warn the policy ignores AI’s environmental toll, highlighted by Google’s 48% emissions surge since 2019.
The plan pressures states to abandon AI regulations by withholding federal funding from jurisdictions with "restrictive" rules, targeting facial-recognition bans in Maine and Montana and hiring/insurance AI safeguards. Trump declared, "We need one federal standard, not 50 different states regulating this industry". This sidesteps a recent Senate vote rejecting a 10-year state AI regulation moratorium. Privacy advocates decry the move as a "Silicon Valley wishlist" that risks civil liberties.
A key executive order bars federal agencies from contracting AI developers whose models show "top-down ideological bias", explicitly naming diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as prohibited influences. Systems must prioritize "historical accuracy and scientific inquiry," aligning with Elon Musk’s "anti-woke" Grok chatbot. The order follows Defense Department deals worth $200M with Anthropic, xAI, and other firms. Critics argue "bias" definitions remain vague, potentially slowing innovation.
Framing AI as the "tech race of the century," Trump warned that overregulation would let China "catch up". The plan includes stricter chip tracking to prevent smuggling to China, Iran, and Russia, allied coordination on export controls and redoubled lobbying in global standards bodies. Notably, it avoids addressing Nvidia’s H20 chip, designed for Chinese markets which Trump briefly banned in April before reversing course.
While AI stocks (Nvidia, Palantir) rose post-announcement, labor groups highlighted contradictions in the plan’s job-creation pledges. Salesforce and Recruit Holdings recently cut 2,300+ jobs citing AI efficiency gains. The administration counters that energy and construction sectors will grow through data-center projects like the $500B "Stargate" initiative with Oracle and SoftBank.