President Trump teases executive order to limit state regulations on AI

WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed to take executive action this week establishing “One Rulebook” nationally for regulating artificial intelligence after similar efforts repeatedly failed in Congress.

Trump contended that allowing all 50 states to craft their own rules on AI would cripple America’s competitiveness in the global race to master the emerging and powerful technology.

“There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” Trump declared on Truth Social Monday.

“We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS. THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY!”

Congress has repeatedly been forced to scrap plans for an AI moratorium on state-level tech regulation after enough members revolted.

The most recent attempt was to tack an AI moratorium into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was rolled out Sunday evening, but GOP leadership confirmed that the attempt was abandoned.

Over the summer, lawmakers tried to sneak a 10-year federal pause on state-level AI regulation into the GOP’s marquee One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now known as the Working Families Tax Cut Act, but that bid failed as well.

Several prominent Republicans, such as retiring firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), staunchly opposed the moratorium, arguing in favor of federalism.

Throughout Trump’s second term, the president has sought to ensure the US dominates the AI race and has courted Big Tech giants. He tapped White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks as his point person to oversee that effort.

Last month, Politico reported on leaked plans for an executive order to push back on states creating a labyrinth of AI rules by establishing an “AI Litigation Task Force” to slap lawsuits against states.

Those lawsuits would center around the notion “that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing Federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful.”

“You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!” Trump added on Truth Social.

The NDAA was one of the last major legislative vehicles lawmakers had been eyeing this year to pass an AI moratorium. NDAAs are required annual bills to set policy for national security and defense.

This year’s defense budget clocked in $8 billion more than the $892.6 billion that Trump sought for the department.

It also repeals two Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMFs), including the AUMF for the 1991 Gulf War and the 2002 AUMF that came before the invasion of Iraq.

Other significant policies for Trump in the NDAA include codification of 15 of his executive orders and a further crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the Department of War.