President Donald Trump joined leaders of several of the nation’s most powerful tech companies Wednesday in sending a message to cost-weary voters: The U.S. can win the artificial intelligence race without straining Americans’ wallets.
But the “ratepayer protection pledge” that Trump touted in the White House, alongside executives from companies including Amazon, Google and OpenAI, is unlikely to protect ordinary consumers from all of the electricity price increases driven by the rapid expansion of AI data centers, energy experts have told POLITICO. Trump’s effort to promote his energy-affordability message is also running up against the massive public attention focused on his war in Iran, a conflict that has inflamed concerns about the cost of living.
Even so, Trump said the commitments will help lower electricity bills for Americans and provide “some PR help” to calm local opposition that has stalled and scrapped data center projects.
“We’re here this afternoon for a historic signing that will help keep down utility bills very, very substantially and electricity prices for millions of Americans,” Trump said from the White House event, where he was joined by GOP lawmakers and tech leaders. “They’re not going to be going up. They’re going to be actually going down.”
