On 23-24 July 2025, United States (US) President Donald Trump unveiled the AI Action Plan, an ambitious strategic roadmap consisting of a central policy document ranging from 20 to 28 pages and three executive orders. These documents contain more than 90 separate policy interventions to spur AI innovation, accelerate infrastructure investments, and reshape international AI diplomacy[i]. This announcement represents a significant paradigm shift in America’s understanding of global technological competitiveness, particularly in the context of China’s rise in AI.
The first executive order, titled “Removing Barriers to American Leadership,” instructs federal agencies to remove all regulatory barriers that could impede the development or implementation of AI technologies. References to “misinformation”, “climate impact” and “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) technical guidelines are removed, emphasizing the promotion of ideologically neutral AI systems. Federal procurement would also be restructured to prioritize only AI products that meet these revised neutral standards. State or local governments that impose stricter regulations will have their access to federal funding restricted.[ii]
The second executive order, the “Infrastructure and Energy Acceleration Directive”, weakens environmental regulations in order to accelerate the construction of data centers, semiconductor factories and energy facilities. It exempts projects related to AI infrastructure from regulations such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act. They are also allowed to build and operate their own power plants powered by natural gas or small modular nuclear reactors. This preference places intermittent energy sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear power at the center of the growth strategy, away from renewable sources.[iii]
The third executive order, “Export and Global AI Strategy”, lays the foundation for a comprehensive AI export program coordinated by the Departments of Commerce, State and Defense. Through the “Full Stack AI Export Program,” the United States aims to export AI hardware, software, training infrastructure, and financing models to allied countries. This initiative counterbalances China’s Digital Silk Road initiative and aims to integrate countries in the Indo-Pacific, Europe and Latin America into US-aligned digital infrastructures. Export finance will be provided through the EXIM Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC).[iv]
Beyond executive orders, the AI Action Plan includes structural reforms such as reallocating federal research budgets, restructuring AI workforce development, changing federal energy incentives, and transforming cybersecurity and supply chain protocols. Taken holistically, these measures represent a strategic national doctrine that combines industrial policy and geotechnological statecraft. This plan can be read as a reaffirmation of American technological exceptionalism.
By refusing to sign the 2025 Paris Artificial Intelligence Summit Declaration, the Washington administration has shown that it has replaced a multilateral understanding of AI governance that prioritizes sustainability and inclusiveness with an approach that prioritizes speed, efficiency and national competitiveness. While these risks isolating the United States with allies that have adopted stronger ethical and environmental controls, the market-based and private sector-led American model remains attractive to countries distanced from China’s technological dominance[v].
At the center of the Plan’s infrastructure vision is the energy strategy. Energy demand from AI is expected to double by 2030, approaching Japan’s current total consumption. Currently, data centers in the US consume more than 4% of the nation’s electricity and emit over 105 million tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases annually. The AI Action Plan responds to this crisis not by decarbonization, but by re-centering fossil fuels and nuclear power. The long-term impacts of this choice on climate resilience, public health and power grid reliability are being monitored with growing concern by scientists and environmental organizations.
At the level of global governance, the plan aims to use AI as both an element of soft power and hard power. America aims not only to export its technologies, but also to control the norms, standards and dependency structures that shape AI practices around the world. This has the potential to accelerate technological disruption on a global scale. However, this strategy also risks alienating neutral countries, triggering regional AI nationalism and regulatory reprisals from actors such as the EU[vi].
Domestically, the plan’s deregulatory and private sector-led approach has drawn criticism from civil society organizations, labor unions and environmental organizations. The lack of job guarantees, algorithmic accountability mechanisms and public oversight structures raises concerns that the impacts of technological transformation on different segments of society may be unevenly distributed. However, proponents argue that the plan provides a necessary foundation for strategic superiority in the AI race and that any delay could increase the risk of defeat.In conclusion, the US AI Action Plan is a multidimensional initiative aimed at rebuilding national and international systems for rapid technological superiority. While this vision strengthens America’s claim to global leadership in AI, its success will depend not only on implementation success, but also on its capacity to balance growth and governance, energy and the environment, and innovation and inclusion
[i] “Trump unveils his plan to put AI in everything”, The Verge, https://www.theverge.com/news/712513/trump-ai-action-plan, (Date Accessed: 04.08.2025).
[ii] The 2025 AI Action Plan: Key Business and Legal Implications”, The National Law Review, https://natlawreview.com/article/2025-ai-action-plan-key-business-and-legal-implications, (Date Accessed: 04.08.2025).
[iii] “White House AI Action Plan Signals Environmental Regulation Reform for Data Centers”, Sidley Austin LLP, https://environmentalenergybrief.sidley.com/2025/07/24/white-house-ai-action-plan-signals-environmental-regulation-reform-for-data-centers/, (Date Accessed: 04.08.2025).
[iv] “President Trump’s AI Action Plan: Key Insights”, Latham & Watkins LLP, https://www.lw.com/en/insights/2025/07/President-Trump-AI-Action-Plan-Key-Insights, (Date Accessed: 04.08.2025).
[v] “What to make of the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan”, Brookings Institution, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-to-make-of-the-trump-administrations-ai-action-plan/, (Date Accessed: 04.08.2025).
[vi] “The Opportunities and Risks Inherent to Trump’s AI Action Plan”, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/article/opportunities-and-risks-inherent-trumps-ai-action-plan, (Date Accessed: 04.08.2025).
