President Donald Trump says he plans to sign a sweeping executive order this week that would create a single, nationwide framework for regulating artificial intelligence — a move designed to curb state-level AI rules that have proliferated in the absence of federal law.
The order, described by Trump as a “ONE RULE” policy, marks the administration’s most aggressive attempt yet to reshape how AI is governed in the US and to assert federal control over a patchwork of state regulations.
Trump announced the plan on his social media platform, writing: “There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI… I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week. You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something.”
What the ‘One Rule’ Order Would Do
A draft of the order reviewed previously by Bloomberg Government and other outlets suggests a dramatic expansion of federal preemption in AI policy.
According to that draft, the order would:
- Authorize the Department of Justice to sue states whose AI-related laws it considers unconstitutional or in conflict with federal policy.
- Allow the federal government to threaten cuts to certain funding streams for states that impose AI rules viewed as overly restrictive or burdensome.
Those provisions would directly target the growing landscape of state AI laws. In recent years, states from California to Tennessee have enacted or proposed regulations touching everything from AI safety standards and transparency requirements to deepfake restrictions and employment-related AI rules.
Because Congress has not yet passed a comprehensive AI law, states have effectively filled the vacuum. The proposed executive order would seek to reset that balance by asserting that the federal government — not individual states — should dictate the baseline rules for AI development and deployment.
If implemented as described, the move would likely trigger lengthy court battles over the limits of executive authority, the scope of the Commerce Clause, and how far the White House can go to override state policymaking without new legislation from Congress.
Industry Support — and Republican Pushback
Major AI and tech companies have long argued for a unified national standard, warning that a state-by-state regulatory approach creates a “compliance nightmare” and could slow innovation.
Trump’s announcement is being interpreted as a win for that camp. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, reinforced the industry view in an interview on CNBC, saying some states “want to regulate these companies within an inch of their lives” and that the order would make clear “there’s one set of rules for American companies in the US.”
But the proposal is far from universally popular inside Trump’s own party. Several Republican governors — including Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders — have criticized efforts to override state authority on AI, arguing that local governments should retain the ability to set their own protections for residents.
Civil liberties and tech policy groups have also raised alarms, warning that an aggressive preemption order could weaken consumer safeguards and limit experimentation with different regulatory models at the state level.
Any attempt to challenge state AI laws in court would likely produce high-profile legal disputes that could eventually reach the Supreme Court.
National Security, China, and the Race for AI
The White House is framing the order as part of a broader effort to maintain US leadership in AI amid intensifying global competition, particularly from China.
Trump has repeatedly emphasized the geopolitical stakes, warning in one post that the US is “beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race” but could see AI “DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY” if companies are forced to navigate 50 different approval regimes across the states.
In recent months, the administration has coupled this rhetoric with a series of AI-related actions, including:
- Policies to accelerate domestic AI infrastructure and ease the construction of large data centers.
- Carefully managed export approvals for advanced AI chips, including a recent green light for sales to Saudi Arabia during a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- The “Genesis Mission” executive order, issued in November 2025, which aims to coordinate AI-accelerated scientific research across federal agencies and unify datasets and computing resources under a national platform.
In that context, the “One Rule” order is being framed as a way to align domestic regulation with the administration’s strategy to keep US AI companies competitive abroad.
What Comes Next
The promised executive order would mark the clearest federal stance yet on AI oversight, but it is unlikely to settle the broader debate.
States that have already enacted AI transparency, safety, or deepfake laws may resist efforts to nullify or weaken their statutes. Legal experts expect immediate challenges if the Justice Department begins suing states or if agencies try to condition grants and broadband funding on the rollback of AI regulations.
Congress, meanwhile, remains divided on key questions including:
- How to enforce AI safety and accountability
- What civil rights protections are needed around automated decision-making
- How AI will affect jobs, competition, and the broader economy
For now, Trump’s move signals that the administration sees centralized AI oversight as both a boost to industry and a strategic tool in global competition. Whether the “One Rule” approach brings clarity or simply sparks a new round of political and legal conflict will depend on the final wording of the order — and how aggressively the federal government moves to challenge state AI laws once it’s signed.