President Trump clashed with tech executives over AI guardrails, calling safety warnings a hoax and prioritizing U.S. competitiveness against China. The Senate rejected the Clarity Act, triggering a massive sell-off in crypto markets, while the Fed faced renewed executive pressure to slash interest rates to one percent. Meanwhile, Google avoided a breakup in an ad tech antitrust ruling, and lawmakers pursued new mandates and tax credits for auto and media industries.
01Background
Trump Met Privately With OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at GOP Convention
The leader in frontier artificial intelligence is prioritizing safety-driven listing delays over immediate capital market access, contrasting with political resistance to federal industry guardrails.
President Donald Trump met privately with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman backstage at the Republican midterm convention on Thursday. Altman requested the meeting to discuss frontier development and the growing power of the technology. The private discussion followed public warnings from former researchers regarding the safety risks of rapid artificial intelligence scaling. Altman stated over the weekend that OpenAI would delay going public this year due to safety concerns and argued that slowing development is worth the cost. Trump rejected calls for federal guardrails, warning on social media that industry regulations would lead to oblivion and while calling artificial intelligence the greatest economic development engine in history.
Trump agrees to stricter ethics rules for Clarity Act crypto bill
Empowering state attorneys general to sue exchanges directly shifts crypto compliance risk from centralized federal regulators to fragmented, politically driven state enforcement litigation.
The United States Senate voted 49 to 50 to block the Clarity Act, falling short of the 60 votes required to advance the market structure bill. Exchanges liquidated about $571 million in bullish positions as the legislative defeat triggered a broad market . and ether longs absorbed the heaviest damage with roughly $190 million wiped out in each token. Crypto-linked suffered steeper losses than major tokens as Coinbase and Circle shares dropped about 9%. The bill derailed after last-minute negotiations broke down over ethics provisions concerning profits earned by senior government officials and their families in the digital space. Regulatory momentum now shifts entirely to the executive branch and independent agencies including the SEC and the CFTC.
Trump Downplays AI Risks Citing U.S.-China Rivalry
Prioritizing national geopolitical dominance over regulatory guardrails keeps capital expenditure cycles uncapped and removes immediate federal compliance drags for domestic model developers.
President Donald Trump dismissed warnings about the safety of on Monday as a hoax, pushing back against calls from industry executives for stricter federal oversight. His comments followed a weekend essay by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urging a slowdown in model development and independent third-party evaluations to mitigate catastrophic risks. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI owner Elon Musk publicly backed Amodei, while recent resignations by safety researchers including Jacob Coxon amplified fears inside leading labs. Trump argued that federal regulation would drive firms into and insisted that maintaining an edge over China remains the primary national security priority. House Speaker Mike Johnson similarly rejected emergency regulations during a television appearance, warning that moving too quickly could cede technological leadership to Beijing. Meanwhile, investors at a Goldman Sachs conference in San Francisco questioned whether the apocalyptic warnings from insiders were designed to generate hype ahead of anticipated initial public offerings.
US judge finds Google should relax ad tech rules and appoint antitrust monitor
Forcing Google to decouple its publisher ad server from its ad exchange directly eliminates the self-preferencing lock-in that preserved its high-margin ad tech take rate.
channelnewsasia.com reports that a federal judge ruled Google should relax rules governing its online advertising auctions and appoint an internal compliance monitor. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued the decision in Alexandria, Virginia, two weeks after rejecting the Department of Justice demand that Alphabet break up its ad tech business. The remedies require Google to stop forcing websites using its ad server to also use its ad exchange, dismantling practices that publishers argued locked them into its tools. The required changes will remain in place for six years, falling short of the 15 years sought by the government and states. Brinkema wrote that the measures will pry open ad tech markets injured by unlawful conduct without requiring the sale of AdX.
Trump demands 1% or lower interest rate following Fed rate hike
Public presidential attacks on a nominated Fed chair introduce political risk to monetary policy, raising the execution hazard of returning inflation to target.
President Donald Trump demanded on Wednesday that the lower to 1 percent or less, hours after the raised borrowing costs for the first time since 2023. According to cnbc.com, the 12-member Federal Open Market Committee unanimously approved a 25 increase to a target range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh defended the move as appropriate amid elevated , while a majority of officials signaled another could follow. Trump claimed the unanimous vote was politically motivated to hurt him, despite expressing continued confidence in Warsh, whom he nominated. White House spokesman Kush Desai defended Trump's public pressure as a protected right while maintaining that the administration believes in central bank independence.
FOMC Target Rate Range (%)
The target range rose by 25 basis points to 3.75% to 4%.
US automakers could soon be forced to include AM radio for free
Mandating legacy analog receivers forces EV makers to absorb additional shielding costs or redesign drivetrain electronics, directly eroding hardware margins on lower-tier electric vehicle platforms.
TechCrunch reports that the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation that would force U.S. automakers to include AM radio as standard equipment in new vehicles at no additional charge. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to enforce the mandate within the next year. Proponents argue that AM radio provides a critical lifeline during emergencies because its signal travels long distances. Automakers have increasingly omitted AM receivers in newer models due to electromagnetic interference from electric motors and a shift toward digital streaming alternatives. Several manufacturers including BMW, Rivian, Tesla, and Volvo have already dropped traditional AM receivers from various models. The bill now advances to the Senate, where it previously secured 60 co-sponsors.
Bipartisan lawmakers launch Film and TV Caucus to boost US production
Federal tax credits would shift domestic entertainment economics from state-level incentive arbitrage toward a baseline policy aimed at reversing runaway production to lower-cost foreign jurisdictions.
hollywoodreporter.com reports that a bipartisan group of U.S. House members launched the Congressional American Film & TV Production Caucus on Wednesday to boost domestic entertainment production. Representatives Brian Jack, Laura Friedman, Nathaniel Moran, Linda Sánchez, Nicole Malliotakis, and Tom Suozzi formed the group as industry advocates push for a federal film and television tax credit. U.S. jobs in film and television have declined by more than 100,000 since 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by lawmakers. U.S. production spending dropped 20 percent in 2025, while spending grew 17 percent in the U.K. and 78 percent in Eastern Europe. A separate group led by Representatives Sydney Kamlager-Dove, María Elvira Salazar, and Troy Carter also announced the Movies, Music, Entertainment, & Sports Caucus on Wednesday.
Production Spending Growth (Pct)
U.S. production spending fell while international markets grew.
Federal policy is shifting toward aggressive deregulation in tech and pressure on the central bank, even as congress remains divided on market frameworks. Whether Trump's anti-regulatory stance will outweigh market instability from defeated legislation like the Clarity Act is unresolved.
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