Trump to welcome Big Tech leaders to WH for Ratepayer Protection Pledge

President Donald Trump will host the executives of Big technology companies at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to sign a pledge ensuring tech giants protect Americans from rising electricity bills tied to power demand in data centers.

Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon are expected to sign the agreement. Taxpayer Protection Pledge Wednesday afternoon, Fox News Digital learned.

The White House said the pledge would mean the companies agreeing to “build, bring in, or purchase new generating resources and cover the cost of all infrastructure upgrades to deliver the power needed to data centers.”

The Trump administration has ramped up the spread of artificial intelligence to keep the United States a global technology leader, which has included the construction of new data centers and growing concern that energy prices may rise for ordinary Americans. This pledge combats these concerns and protects Americans from high electricity bills.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and President Donald Trump listen to reporters in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., October 6, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The pledge will also result in companies pledging not to pass expenses on to American households.

It also requires companies to hire and train talent from within the communities in which they build and operate data centers, which will create thousands of job opportunities and enhance workforce skills.

“President Trump“The Taxpayer Protection Pledge will deliver more affordable, reliable, and secure energy to the American people and help stem the rise in electricity prices that began during the previous administration,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said before the event. “This plan will strengthen America’s energy dominance, while ensuring the United States wins the AI ​​race.”

US science and technology official Michael Kratsios addresses attendees at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 29, 2025. (Seungjun Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We will continue to partner with technology leaders to advance America’s competitiveness, while keeping energy costs low for hard-working families,” Wright added.

Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said Trump “continues to ensure that the United States leads the world in artificial intelligence while strengthening the grid and lowering energy costs for American families.”

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As for technology companies, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Jarman said they are signing the pledge to “reinforce our commitment to paying our full energy costs and ensuring our data centers do not increase consumers’ electricity bills.”

“We welcome the administration’s leadership on this issue and support the pledge commitments, which establish a clear baseline for protecting taxpayers while enabling responsible, long-term energy partnerships that strengthen the grid and the communities in which data centers operate,” he said.

The Amazon logo at the Amazon campus in Palo Alto, California on February 18, 2020. (Getty Images)

Microsoft Vice President and President Brad Smith also praised the pledge, calling it an “important step,” with META President and Vice President Dina Powell McCormick saying the pledge “ensures that families are not the ones footing the bill for AI energy consumption.”

The pledge “gives companies like Meta the certainty we need to maintain momentum, ensuring that American AI dominance and the prosperity of American families go hand in hand,” McCormick said.

Alphabet and Google’s Ruth Porat said the pledge underscores the company’s “long-term commitment to protecting American households’ energy affordability, accelerating breakthroughs to secure America’s energy future, and providing energy infrastructure — all of which are critical to maintaining America’s global leadership in this age of innovation.”

Alphabet and Google’s Ruth Porat said the pledge underscores the company’s “long-term commitment to protecting energy affordability for American households.” (Associated Press)

“Building the infrastructure for AI development is vital to America’s economic competitiveness and ensuring the benefits of AI reach everyone,” said Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer at OpenAI. “As demand for AI continues to grow, we believe the infrastructure that enables AI should benefit the communities that make it possible, which is why we’re proud to support the White House’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.”

The White House said the pledge would contribute to “reduced electricity costs, stronger grid infrastructure, and enhanced grid resiliency during emergencies.”

Microsoft’s campus in Mountain View, California, on January 26, 2026. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The president announced the Taxpayer Protection Pledge during his State of the Union address in February.

“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” he said. “You know what that is? We’re telling big tech companies that they have to commit to meeting their own energy needs.”

“We have an old network,” he said. “It can never handle those kind of numbers, the amount of electricity required. So I tell them, they can build their own plant. They will produce their own electricity. That will ensure that the company can get the electricity and, at the same time, lower the electricity prices for you.”

The pledge “ensures that families are not the ones footing the bill for AI energy consumption,” says Meta President and Vice President Dina Powell McCormick. (Jonathan Ra/Noor Photo via Getty Images)

The AI ​​race has pitted the United States against China as the technology leader, with the Trump administration stepping up efforts not to cede ground to the Asian nation since January 2025. Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania are among the states seeing data center expansion and AI growth.

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol, February 24, 2026. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

A White House official previously told Fox Digital that the president and the administration have been working on the initiative for some time, including Trump’s post about the issue on Truth Social in January.

The pledge comes as concerns about affordability remain a major issue for voters heading into the midterm election season. Democratic candidates in a few races in the 2025 cycle outside of 2025 campaigned on promises to cut costs for ordinary Americans, which proved to be a winning strategy on election night.

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Trump has consistently hit back at Democrats touting affordability, pointing to high inflation under the Biden administration as evidence that liberal policies have left Americans’ pockets less cash.

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