Barely noticed in the firehose stream of presidential activity since the inauguration was a brief Oval Office mention of cutting a deal with Ukraine for access to its critical minerals. Securing steady access to uranium, the rare earth elements, and other critical minerals is a natural priority for an America First agenda. President Trump’s February
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January 2025 AI Developments – Transitioning to the Trump Administration

This is the first in a new series of Covington blogs on the AI policies, executive orders, and other actions of the new Trump Administration. This blog describes key actions on AI taken by the Trump Administration in January 2025.
Outgoing President Biden Issues Executive Order and Data Center Guidance for AI Infrastructure
Before turning…
Budget Reconciliation: Process Primer and FY25 Senate Budget Resolution Overview

Likely the most significant legislation Congress will consider this year is a budget reconciliation bill. For weeks, congressional Republicans and President Trump have been laying the groundwork to agree on a process for advancing Trump’s agenda via the special legislative process of reconciliation, with the original aim to have a budget resolution on the floor…
Tulsi Gabbard’s Confirmation Hearing for Director of National Intelligence: A Preview of a FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Fight?

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s January 30, 2025, confirmation hearing for former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, previewed a potentially difficult reauthorization path for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”). While Gabbard appears to now publicly favor reauthorization of Section 702, her need to change positions to…
Trump Administration Seeks Public Comment on AI Action Plan
On February 6, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (“OSTP”) and National Science Foundation (“NSF”) issued a Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking public input on the “Development of an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan.” The RFI marks a first step toward the implementation of the Trump Administration’s January 23 Executive Order 14179,…
Senator Hawley Introduces Sweeping U.S.-China AI Decoupling Bill
On January 29, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced the Decoupling America’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act (S. 321), one of the first bills of 119th Congress to address escalating U.S. competition with China on artificial intelligence. The new legislation comes just days after Chinese AI company DeepSeek launched its R1 AI model…
Trump Administration Imposes Tariffs on Imports from Canada, Mexico, and China
On February 1, President Trump issued three executive orders (“EOs”) imposing broad tariffs on U.S. imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, initially to be effective on February 4. Invoking Presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), the EOs expand the national emergency declared by the President on his first…
Toward EU Outbound Investment Regulation
On 15 January 2025, the European Commission recommended that EU Member States review outbound investment in three critical technologies—semiconductors, AI, and quantum—with the aim of potentially creating an EU-wide regime to regulate such investment. EU Member States should report to the Commission on their findings and risk assessment within 18 months. These findings would inform…
What Does the New European Commission Mean for EU Tech Policy?
The new European Commission, which took office in December 2024, will likely rebalance its policy priorities, putting greater emphasis on competitiveness and innovation and less on risk-prevention and regulation. Over the past five years, the EU adopted several sweeping tech regulations, such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and the…
Brazil Under Lula: The Second Year
Executive Summary
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva concluded his second year with contradicting economic results: high GDP growth and low unemployment combined with rising inflation, high interest rates, and a record devaluation of the Brazilian currency.
- The Lula administration’s strategy put the country’s fiscal framework in peril and left economic policy agenda items unfinished,
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