Trump AI Plan Declares an AI Race Against China — Tech Infrastructure Is the Battlefield
- Platocom
- Jul 28
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 31
Hold onto your hats — the Trump administration just unleashed its bold new “action plan” for AI, and it’s all about one thing: going full throttle. Forget red tape and cautious oversight, Washington is backing a turbocharged push to build data centers, flood the globe with American AI tech, and kick out what it calls “woke” and “biased” AI. This isn’t just policy; it’s a no-holds-barred race to dominate the future.
A little sidenote: [Back in January — just his second day in office — Trump unveiled Stargate, a $500 billion moonshot to lock in U.S. supremacy in AI. But while the vision was grand, the rollout has been riddled with setbacks. In our next blog on Thursday, we’ll dig into why Stargate is struggling to leave the launchpad, how Elon Musk’s company got frozen out, and what it all means for the future of America’s AI ambitions.]
Back to the story:
AI Dreams, DC Reality: The White House Isn’t Built for Magic
Even supporters of the plan admit the White House isn’t working magic. As The Wall Street Journal reports, critics like Sacha Haworth of the Tech Oversight Project noted that much of the “action plan” mirrors proposals long championed by the tech industry. While the administration has clearly embraced Silicon Valley’s priorities, turning those broad strokes into results will still require buy-in from federal agencies, state governments, and a private sector already stretched thin by rising demand and infrastructure bottlenecks.
The Federal Push vs. State-Level Reality
The Trump administration’s directive to agencies like the FTC and FCC to “identify and gut” regulations blocking AI development applies strictly at the federal level. When it comes to state laws, the picture becomes more complicated.
While the administration wants to override state rules that might slow down AI projects — especially regulations related to privacy, ethics, or environmental protections — it doesn’t have the power to simply erase those laws. Federal agencies can encourage states to adopt more AI-friendly policies, for example, by tying federal funding to cooperation, but they cannot unilaterally preempt state laws without Congressional approval.
This means that although Washington is cutting red tape on its own turf, many U.S. states can still delay or block AI initiatives through local rules on privacy, zoning, and environmental impact. Earlier this year, a Congressional proposal to ban state AI regulations for ten years failed to pass, leaving the “red tape war” very much alive — it’s just playing out across 50 different state-level battlegrounds.
While we applaud President Trump’s vision and mission to keep the U.S. at the forefront of global tech innovation, we’re also keenly aware of the complex web of policies and laws that either protect individual states’ rights or stand in the way of rapid progress — depending on your perspective. At a recent tech summit in Washington, the president emphasized this drive by declaring:
“America must once again be a country where innovators are rewarded with a green light, not strangled by red tape,” (Wall Street Journal).
To back this up, the administration is opening up federal lands for AI-related development, cutting permitting timelines, and even prioritizing energy access for AI workloads. All this comes as major players like OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia pour billions into building out AI training and inference infrastructure across the country.
Tailor-Made for Big Tech? You Bet.
“The plan embraces proposals sought by the tech sector,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “ChatGPT maker OpenAI and tech companies such as Meta Platforms have been asking administration officials to aid the sector’s data-center build-out.”
No Room for ‘Woke AI’ in Government Contracts
President Trump also targeted what he calls “biased” or “woke” AI. His administration plans to bar AI systems with these characteristics from winning government contracts — a sharp departure from Biden-era policies that emphasized fairness, safety, and transparency.
While the administration hasn’t clearly defined what qualifies as “woke” AI, the political message is unmistakable: AI tools that incorporate equity, ethics, or guardrails are seen as politically suspect.
U.S. to Allies: Buy Our AI, Not China’s
A less flashy, but potentially more strategic component of the plan involves exporting U.S. AI infrastructure to friendly nations — especially chips and cloud services. Countries like Japan, South Korea, the U.K., Australia, and members of the European Union fall under this "friendly" umbrella. While many of these allies are already developing their own AI capabilities, the U.S. strategy is less about filling gaps and more about securing long-term influence. The goal is to ensure that their infrastructure runs on American technology, locking in strategic alignment, curbing China’s market share, and keeping allied innovation within a U.S.-led ecosystem.
The WSJ reports:
“Trump’s team argues that the U.S. needs to sell its chips and software to as many friendly countries as possible so that their AI is dependent on American companies, not Chinese companies.”
To support that, the Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will help fund infrastructure deals, including data center development abroad.
This export push also ties into a national security pitch. As Trump put it:
“Winning the AI competition… will be the biggest test the U.S. has faced since the space race decades ago,” (WSJ).
Copyright Confusion? Trump May Clarify
The tech sector has long asked for clarity on whether AI models can legally train on copyrighted materials. The lawsuits — from The New York Times to music publishers — are piling up. For months, the federal government stayed out of it.
But now?
“Trump said he wants to provide clarity… because Chinese tech companies don’t have to worry about copyright concerns,” according to the Wall Street Journal.“We have to allow AI to use that pool of knowledge without going through the complexity of contract negotiations,” he said.
If this becomes policy, it could dramatically reshape how generative models are trained in the U.S. — and set off a new wave of legal and legislative battles.
The Bigger Picture: AI as a Political Wedge
This AI plan is about more than technology — it’s about ideology, power, and global position. It reverses many Biden-era executive orders, including the requirement that companies notify the federal government when developing potentially dangerous models.
The WSJ confirms:
“In January, Trump rescinded a Biden executive order that directed companies to notify the government when they developed models that posed health, economic or national-security risks.”
He also rolled back export restrictions that had limited how many advanced chips could be sold overseas — another win for Big Tech’s bottom line.
But perhaps the boldest ideological move? The administration has ordered the Commerce Department to scrub references to climate change and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) from federal AI risk documents.
Conclusion: Fast, Deregulated, and Politically Charged
Trump’s AI plan isn’t just policy — it’s positioning. It’s a flag in the sand that says: the U.S. must dominate AI, and fast. Ethics, caution, and process can wait. Big Tech, in turn, is watching this unfold with applause — and investment.
As the WSJ reports, “Companies have announced more than $1.5 trillion in investments in data centers and manufacturing in recent months.”
Whether this plan supercharges innovation or sparks regulatory chaos remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain: the future of AI just became a campaign issue — and a global power play.
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