This week, President Trump will return to the House Chamber to deliver his State of the Union address — a prime opportunity to make the case that American tech competitiveness is inseparable from U.S. economic strength. Since beginning his second term, the president has made securing U.S. leadership in critical technologies like AI and revitalizing American manufacturing a cornerstone of his ambitious agenda, recognizing that the innovations and industries that thrive today will drive future U.S. economic growth, jobs and prosperity. Here are some key actions he can highlight Tuesday night that can advance those goals:
Implement technology to modernize the U.S. energy grid — now. America’s energy grid is at a breaking point. The current infrastructure that generates and delivers electricity to homes, businesses, hospitals, factories, and schools across the country is not equipped to reliably support Americans’ lives, industries, jobs, or communities that are increasingly dependent on online and digital services, or the demands of the manufacturing renaissance America needs to compete globally. There is a rare opportunity for the private sector, government, and other stakeholders to work together to modernize the U.S. energy grid — delivering reliability, protecting ratepayers, and building the resilient infrastructure the U.S. needs to compete in the 21st century.
While efforts to streamline the broken permitting processes and build more generation and transmission capacity are essential, America needs the economy to grow now and cannot wait years for that infrastructure buildout while energy prices rise. Fortunately, software and other grid-enhancing technologies can be deployed rapidly with results seen in months — not years. These faster, lower-cost tools expand transmission capacity, optimize grid operations, and improve load forecasts, helping the existing grid to keep pace with surging demand, alleviate costs, and accelerate the delivery of new generation. President Trump should direct regulators to prioritize these tools and encourage adoption in the energy grid across the country.
Provide tariff certainty to businesses. In the wake of Friday's Supreme Court decision on tariffs, President Trump can make clear to America's businesses that they will have the certainty they need to make significant investments in manufacturing and technology innovation in the U.S. In order to increase the magnitude of such investments, businesses must understand their costs of inputs into goods, as well as their access to global markets. U.S. trading partners and manufacturers are awaiting certainty on the future tariff roadmap, and the president can encourage further investment and the success of U.S. exports to the world by providing such certainty in his speech.
Remove roadblocks to AI-powered economic growth. In 2025, over 100 AI bills became law in 38 different state capitals, creating a patchwork of competing AI regulation that has sown confusion for consumers and burdensome compliance costs for businesses of all sizes. Companies design and deploy AI systems for use across state borders — so it doesn’t make sense to regulate it that way. Differences in state laws — like inconsistent definitions and compliance mandates — create real roadblocks for American innovators, limit delivery of consistent, high-quality services to consumers, and threaten the to U.S. economic growth that AI investment and productivity promise.
Fortunately, President Trump’s recent Executive Order on Ensuring a National AI Policy Framework took a pivotal step toward national coherence, calling for the development of a national AI standard. Establishing clear, innovation-friendly guardrails provides companies the certainty they need to invest, scale, and deploy AI responsibly nationwide. On Tuesday, the president can reiterate how federal leadership — not a myriad of inconsistent state laws — is the path to unlocking AI’s full economic potential.
Support American jobs and give businesses certainty through North American trade. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), negotiated in President Trump’s first term, has strengthened the U.S. economy — supporting nearly $2 trillion in regional trade, American jobs, and giving 100,000 U.S. small and medium-size businesses access to the Canadian and Mexican markets. The USMCA brought U.S. trade policy into the 21st century, creating a framework that reflects how the global economy actually works. Its modernized rules ensure data can move across borders, prevent forced data localization, and protect the innovation that underpins modern commerce — provisions that are increasingly important as the U.S. looks to maintain its leadership in AI. As the governments kick off this historic agreement’s mandatory review this year, President Trump should make clear that the U.S. will renew the USMCA, providing businesses certainty, supporting American jobs, and positioning North America to compete in a more challenging global economy.
Tuesday night is a chance for President Trump to send a clear signal to American workers, families, businesses, and global competitors: the U.S. is committed to leading an innovation-driven economy and securing America’s prosperity for generations to come.