Trump's week in review: Saudi Arabia's nuclear deal; data center push; escalating war in Iran

5. White House hosts event plugging data centers as a positive 

Trump discussed his administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge at an event Thursday. He clarified that under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, “America’s largest tech companies have formally committed to fund or build all energy infrastructure required to meet the demand they are placing on the grid.” 

“Since I introduced this plan just a few months ago, more than 220 utilities, tech companies, state governments and other partners have signed our Ratepayer Protection Pledge," Trump said.

Acknowledging that “the data centers and [artificial intelligence] are dramatically increasing the demand for electricity,” Trump insisted that “It’s only fair that the cost of building the new infrastructure required to meet this demand should be borne by the corporations themselves, not by the American consumers.” The president praised the push for data centers nationwide as a positive development because “it means tremendous numbers of jobs.” 

“Revenue from Google’s data center construction is allowing [Georgia] to eliminate all property taxes,” Trump declared as he continued to tout the advantages of data centers. The president pointed to bonuses of up to $50,000 for public school teachers in Richland Parish, Louisiana, as the direct result of “a $27 billion project by Meta that will also save local residents $2.6 billion on their electricity bills.” 

Trump classified opposition to data centers as an idea of “the radical left communists,” alleging that they “want to shut down all new development, kill our most successful industries, destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs and surrender the AI race to China.”