One of President Donald Trump’s allies in the Senate undercut him during an interview on Monday about a key regulatory issue.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joined the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Page Editor, Paul Gigot, on Monday to discuss the priorities for Congress in 2026. Graham said that Congress should focus on creating “national standards” for artificial intelligence, something that Trump has sought to prevent.
“You’re going to have to have national standards, or else you’ll drive everybody crazy,” Graham said.
Trump has been hesitant to place regulations and restrictions on AI companies during his second administration. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting states from enacting their own AI regulations, even though experts have said that move raises safety concerns.
Trump’s views on federal regulations for AI remain less clear. Graham said during the event that Trump wants “to do a summit on AI” but hasn’t announced any details yet.
“If you own a driverless car and you run somebody over, you’re on the hook,” Graham began. “I think that’s a big decision we’re going to make in [2026] because if we don’t start making it now, we’re going to get left behind.”
Graham’s comments come at a time when the administration relaxed rules prohibiting Nvidia, a company that produces the strongest AI computing technology, from selling its products in China. Experts have said allowing Nvidia to do business in China would threaten the U.S.’s global leadership in AI.
“If we don’t, it’s moving really quickly, like really quickly,” Graham said to the audience. “Don’t you agree? So I think we need to get our stuff.”
We gotta have some guardrails on how to develop the technology, but if you lock it down and have too much government, you’re going to be left behind,” Graham said. “That’s a bipartisan exercise.”
See the entire conversation by clicking here.
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