President Donald Trump said Thursday he halted a planned signing ceremony for his administration’s AI executive order after deciding parts of the proposal could undermine the U.S. position in the global AI race with China.
Trump did not specify which specific provisions he opposed or say when the administration might revisit the order.
Trump’s comment came during a press conference announcing the administration’s rollback of environmental regulations affecting refrigeration equipment, part of a broader deregulation push the White House says will lower costs for consumers, protect jobs, and reverse Biden-era policies it considers harmful to industry.
The proposal would also have allowed critical infrastructure providers, including banks, to receive pre-release access to covered models, and included a cybersecurity provision aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in unreleased AI models.
Despite the legal fight with Anthropic, Trump said he supports AI development and views the technology as a source of economic growth, but argued the executive order risked creating unnecessary obstacles for the industry.
“I really thought that could have been a blocker and I want to make sure that it’s not,” he said.
During the press conference, Trump said he discussed AI with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting last week.
“He acknowledges how well we’re doing,” Trump said. “It was the two of us—the two countries are fighting for it. Other countries are way behind. I postponed that signing because I didn't like what I was seeing.”
