Trump’s 90-day Countdown on Federal vs. State AI Regulations

By Rebecca Grant: President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order Ensuring a National Framework For Artificial Intelligence has been out for a week, and the debate is heating up.  At issue: a moratorium on state legislatures, which have introduced over 1,000 different AI bills.

“My Administration must act with the Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones,” Trump stated in the EO. 

The first plan was to append the moratorium on state AI regulations to the National Defense Authorization Act.  “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. Put it in the NDAA, or pass a separate Bill, and nobody will ever be able to compete with America,” Trump explained in a Truth Social post on November 17.

But that move fell short.  The NDAA “wasn’t the best place” for the pre-emption, explained House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise. “This is a terrible provision and should remain OUT,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) said on December 2.

Trump’s counter with an Executive Order was clearly driven by national security concerns.  “It is the policy of the United States to sustain and enhance the United States’ global AI dominance through a minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI,” stated the Executive Order.  The Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission all have their marching orders.  Commerce has 90 days to find the most onerous state AI laws, for example.

AI is big business for the states.  Since AI rushed onto the scene, at least 40% of enterprise-scale businesses in the United States have adopted it.  A new study from the American Edge Project documented surging growth in tech jobs, with Tennessee leading the pack at 37% net growth from 2019 to 2025.  The AEP report also flags a growing risk that clashing state bills could “undermine the energy, infrastructure, innovation, and talent capacity AI depends on, slowing momentum not just in individual states, but nationally.”

Don’t rule out problems with implementing the order.  Prominent law firm Gibson Dunn said on December 15 that while the EO “directs multiple agencies to assert broad federal authority in service of a ‘uniform national policy framework for AI,’ these initiatives are unlikely to find a legal basis for broad preemption of state AI laws.”  They recommend “companies are likely well-advised to continue to operate under the expectation that states will legislate – and enforce – their AI-related laws.”

However, many states may find common ground with federal action.  The White House EO leaves room for states to enact lawful regulations relating to child safety protections, data centers, and “other topics to be determined.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is sticking with his Citizen Bill of Rights for Artificial Intelligence, announced in early December.  An Executive Order “can’t block states,” DeSantis said in a December 15 speech.  While asserting Florida’s rights, DeSantis said much of the White House EO fit his agenda: “the stuff we’re doing is going to be very consistent.”