'We Have To Be Unified, China Is...': Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting State AI Laws

Last Updated:December 12, 2025, 07:29 IST

The order calls for the development of a national AI legislative framework that would preempt state AI laws that stifle innovation.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony on AI the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to protect American AI innovation from an inconsistent and costly compliance regime resulting from varying state laws.

The order directs the Attorney General to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge unconstitutional, preempted, or otherwise unlawful State AI laws that harm innovation.

US Senator Ted Cruz said, “We don’t want China’s values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist government governing AI. We want American values of free speech, of individual liberty, of respecting the individual."

The order directs the Secretary of Commerce to publish an evaluation of State AI laws that conflict with national AI policy priorities and withhold non-deployment Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding from any state with such AI laws, a statement from the White House said.

Other agencies are directed to consider whether to make an absence of similar laws, or a policy of enforcement discretion with respect to any existing such laws, a condition of applicable discretionary grant programs.

The order instructs the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission to take actions that will limit States’ ability to force AI companies to deceive consumers, including determining whether laws that force companies to embed DEI into their models cause those companies to violate the Federal Trade Commission Act, and considering whether to adopt a Federal reporting and disclosure standard for AI models.

The order calls for the development of a national AI legislative framework that would preempt state AI laws that stifle innovation.

President Trump is acting decisively to ensure that the country’s great technological pioneers can compete on the world stage, ensuring America’s national security and economic prosperity in the age of AI.

State legislatures have introduced over 1,000 different AI bills, creating a patchwork of rules, disclosures, and reporting requirements. States such as California and Colorado are considering requiring AI companies to censor outputs and insert left-wing ideology in their programming.

Reducing the compliance costs and development burdens associated with varying state laws will lower barriers to entry in AI and enhance innovation, and ensure that American companies are not subject to restrictions that their international competitors do not face.

The most restrictive states should not be allowed to dictate national AI policy at the expense of America’s domination of this new frontier.

The Trump Administration supports a common sense approach to AI policy. This means removing unnecessary red tape, updating out-of-date rules created before AI advancements, and clarifying new rules for certain sectors or use-cases, the statement added.

“Investment in AI is helping to make the US Economy the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World, but overregulation by the States is threatening to undermine this Major Growth ‘Engine.’ Some States are even trying to embed DEI ideology into AI models, producing ‘Woke AI’ (Remember Black George Washington?). We MUST have one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes. If we don’t, then China will easily catch us in the AI race," Trump said.

News world 'We Have To Be Unified, China Is...': Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting State AI Laws

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