ISLAMABAD: U.S. President Donald Trump has established a new energy council to address surging electricity demands, aiming to solidify America’s lead in the artificial intelligence (AI) race with China.
“We’re going to be energy dominant like nobody else, and this doesn’t even cover all the electricity we’ll be producing for AI plants,” Trump said while signing the order.
“They need at least double the electricity we have right now,” he added.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, also present at the signing, emphasized the urgency: “The U.S. is in an AI arms race with China. The only way we win is with more electricity.”
According to the White House, the new council will oversee energy policy across federal agencies, streamlining permitting, production, and distribution of resources. The initiative aligns with Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” stance, ramping up domestic oil and gas production while disregarding concerns over carbon emissions and climate change.
The move also seeks to offset potential economic pressures from Trump’s trade policies, which could drive up energy costs if tariffs disrupt imports and exports.
The AI industry’s power demands are straining an already overstretched grid, exacerbated by years of underinvestment and the shutdown of aging nuclear plants.
Tech leaders have been pressing the Trump administration to prioritize energy expansion, with officials estimating that by 2028, AI training alone could require up to five gigawatts of power—enough to supply five million homes.
