President Donald Trump’s photo op with Big Tech executives on Wednesday suggested that the president is fully aware of and worried about growing public backlash to data centers and their corrosive impacts on surrounding communities. But based on the substance of his policy — basically a pinkie-promise from industry — it also seems clear that Trump doesn’t have any concrete solutions.
My MS NOW colleague Akayla Gardner wrote a great explainer on tech company executives gathering to sign the pledge that Trump announced during his State of the Union address. This pledge, Trump said, would require tech companies to fund their own power supply for data centers and cover the costs of all upgrades.
As Gardner noted, this pledge is nonbinding:
The White House pledge is voluntary and not enforceable. Even if firms invest in their own power generation — as Amazon and Microsoft have already begun doing with nuclear and renewable projects — those efforts could take years to materialize and may still require support from existing power grids.
Signatories of the pledge include executives from Amazon, Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI.
Trump is hoping Americans see this pledge as a salve for the backlash tech companies have been facing, which could easily spill over, especially given his close ties to the tech world.
The president said Wednesday that data centers ‘need some PR help.’
‘People think that if a data center goes in, their electricity prices are going to go up, and that’s not happening,’ Trump said. ‘It’s not going to happen, and for the areas where it did happen, won’t happen anymore.’
Taken at face value, the logic of Trump’s statement doesn’t quite add up: Data centers aren’t raising electricity bills, but if they are — and they absolutely are — it won’t happen anymore.
“These companies are committing to provide or pay for all power generation and electricity needed for their AI projects, which is massive,” Trump said. “Where possible, they’ll add capacity to the grid by building new power station.”
Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade and manufacturing advisor, recently told Fox News the White House would “force” the tech companies to “internalize” the costs associated with their data centers, but the administration will face an uphill battle turning the pledge into concrete policy.
Perhaps the president will attempt to use on Big Tech companies some of the coercive tactics that have marked this administration’s turn toward state capitalism. But without any legal or regulatory authority to require changes, it’s hard to see Trump’s approach to data centers — a voluntary pledge from Big Tech — as anything but theater.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
