Washington, D.C. — Following a new executive order released by the Trump Administration yesterday aimed at challenging state-level legislation that protects communities from the harms of AI, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“The Trump administration is desperate to do a favor for Big Tech after Republican leaders in Congress failed to go along with its plan to subvert the power of state legislators to protect their own communities,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “But it’s important to note that an executive order like this can’t wipe out enacted state laws. It’s simply a desperate attempt to intimidate and blackmail states through litigation and funding threats, even as bipartisan coalitions of state lawmakers, attorneys general, and governors from Texas to Montana to Colorado are leading on reining in out of control tech and AI.”

“At a moment when voters across the political spectrum are worried about AI-fueled algorithmic price-setting, fraud, discrimination, job loss, and harm to children, this order prioritizes juicing the power of tech companies over the interests of countless communities.” added Garofalo. “This is clear administration overreach in service of the biggest corporations in the country, and we urge states to fight it.”

The executive order comes amid a sustained push by the Trump administration and allied lawmakers to neutralize state-level AI regulation after repeated failures to do so legislatively. Earlier efforts to impose a federal moratorium on state AI laws collapsed under overwhelming bipartisan opposition, including a 99–1 Senate vote and letters signed by hundreds of state legislators and attorneys general from both parties. States have taken clear steps to protect their own communities while Congress has not, passing bipartisan laws to curb algorithmic rent price-fixing, require transparency in healthcare and financial decisions, protect workers and children, and prevent AI-driven election interference. Polling consistently shows strong public opposition to federal preemption of states’ ability to regulate AI, reflecting widespread concern that unchecked AI deployment is accelerating fraud, discrimination, market manipulation, and consumer harm while primarily benefiting a small handful of dominant tech firms.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.