‘not Where They Hoped It'd Be’: Launch Of Trump Ai Promotion Program Underwhelms

A Trump administration program aimed at making American AI the world's default technology is off to a rocky start.

The Commerce Department received 78 applications in the first round of its American AI Exports Program, created last year as a way for the government to promote U.S. semiconductors, AI models and software to foreign buyers. That number is far fewer than the hundreds agency officials had expected, according to three former department officials close to the program, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about current operations.

Many of the country's biggest AI companies remain unconvinced the government's financing, advocacy and licensing incentives will meaningfully boost foreign sales, more than half a dozen technology executives, industry group leaders and analysts told POLITICO. They are also unnerved by the administration's abrupt, since-reversed order forcing leading AI company Anthropic to cut off foreign access to its latest models — a move they warn may undercut the very pitch the program is making abroad.

The relatively weak turnout marks an early setback for a program President Donald Trump has cast as central to the technology race with China, where AI startup DeepSeek, tech giant Alibaba and other Chinese firms are churning out low-cost, open-source models that developing countries are increasingly adopting. And it’s a sign of how the administration is struggling to balance its desire to dominate the AI sector globally while pursuing ad-hoc policies aimed at keeping it out of the hands of rivals and criminals.

“It’s a problem that Commerce spent months telling the White House that the industry wanted this program and would show up in force," said one former Trump Commerce Department official briefed on progress by current staff members, who, like others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the program. "It's still early. But it's not where they hoped it'd be at this point."

Trump kicked off the initiative last July with an executive order, as part of a vision Commerce Undersecretary William Kimmitt described as working to "position America's AI innovators and workers to win globally." The department spent months gathering industry feedback before formally launching the program in October. Companies had until June 30 to team up and pitch complete AI packages the government could market abroad.

In a Monday press release, the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration, which promotes exports by U.S. companies abroad, said it received applications from a broad "cross-section of the AI industry," including major hyperscalers and cloud providers, as well as semiconductor and hardware manufacturers.

In a statement to POLITICO, Commerce declined to list specific companies involved with the initiative but rejected claims that submissions fell short of what the department had hoped, saying ”the volume of applications exceeded our expectations, and as industry innovates, we may consider another application period at a later date.”

An official for the agency, who was granted anonymity to provide details of the proposals, told POLITICO they targeted sectors including agriculture, education, autonomous logistics, public safety and critical minerals supply chains. They said that the agency received applications from small companies, too, noting in an emailed statement that “the criteria for Program success is straightforward: American AI exports to foreign partners.”

The cloud computing company Amazon Web Services submitted an application, the company confirmed to POLITICO.

The chip giant Nvidia did not confirm whether its currently involved in any projects tied to the initiative, but a spokesperson said in a statement that it “looks forward to participating in this program.”

Other leading American AI and tech companies that were expected to help anchor the program, such as OpenAI and Advanced Micro Devices, haven't said whether they're taking part, however. Neither company responded to a request for comment.

Corporate skepticism stems in part from the way the Commerce Department structured the program, said the technology executives. Rather than seeking individual products or technologies, the department asked applicants to assemble complete AI export packages spanning advanced chips, cloud infrastructure, AI models, cybersecurity and sector-specific applications — capabilities that are typically spread across multiple companies and often concentrated among the industry’s largest players. Those are also the firms that already have established overseas customers, financing channels and government relationships, industry officials said.

"The larger technology companies, the hyperscalers, and so on, they have strong global operations, so they may not be in every market, but they are adept at learning how to work in different jurisdictions and negotiate with the local governments," said Paul Lekas, head of global public policy and government affairs at the Software & Information Industry Association, a trade group whose members include large tech companies like Google.

If major companies do participate, part of the program’s value may come from the signal of government backing, added Mike Walsh, a partner at DLA Piper focused on national security and global trade. “The messaging device is important, the assistance of the United States government, the clearance of some red tape that even the largest companies still have to deal with, I think is helpful.”

Others say the affiliation with the Trump administration has major downsides, which in many cases could outweigh the benefits of the program.

"It's not worth the headache and complexity, and it's not clear there's much upside to tying those projects to the Trump administration right now," said a senior official at a Washington-based industry group representing major companies in the tech sector, who was granted anonymity to speak about why members opted not to participate.

Much of that hesitation traces back to the administration's order on Anthropic, an abrupt move that some in the industry viewed as a sign of how quickly Washington's priorities can shift — and how risky it could be to tie overseas business to them.

While the administration ultimately reversed its restrictions, the episode became another data point for governments already questioning whether critical AI infrastructure built around American technology could become subject to abrupt policy changes. The security vulnerabilities cited to justify the temporary restrictions also drew skepticism from industry officials, who argued that many less capable models — including some from OpenAI — could identify the same vulnerabilities.

The doubts didn't begin with the Anthropic order, however. The initiative has struggled with skepticism since its earliest days.

The executive order’s original late-October deadline came and went without a request for proposals, and Commerce did not open the application window until April 1. In the interim, a coalition of more than a dozen industry organizations asked the department for more time to respond to its initial request for public input, citing the “complexity and breadth” of the topics it covered and saying additional time was needed to develop feedback to inform the program’s “design and implementation.” The coalition included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents millions of companies, and the Washington-based tech and trade association the Information Technology Industry Council.

Months after applications opened, some industry groups say they are still waiting for greater clarity on how the program will operate. ITI, which represents companies including Nvidia, welcomed the initiative as an opportunity to strengthen U.S. technology leadership, but "clear implementation guidance will be essential to ensuring it achieves these goals," said Kristin Najdi, the group's senior director of trade policy.

A second phase of the program, in which the government will bring companies specific deals to bid on, has yet to launch.

“It’s pretty clear early on that the private sector appetite for participating in a USG branded AI initiative is not encouraging,” said Emily Benson, head of strategy at the Minerva Technology Futures intelligence firm. “My hot take from Day 1 was this is not going to go anywhere.”

Daniel Castro, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington-based technology policy think tank that lists Apple and Samsung among its supporters, said the biggest risk is that foreign buyers start hedging. "People want American technology right now globally — they think it's the best," he said. "But if they think that there are limits to their potential future access to it, they're going to be looking at alternatives, and that can seriously hold them back."

Whether foreign buyers actually show up is an open question, added Aaron Cooper, senior vice president of global policy at the Business Software Alliance, which represents major technology companies like Amazon Web Services and Cloudflare. "Right now, what I think the administration is trying to do is assemble the supply side."