A plan backed by Don­ald Trump to restrict US states from reg­u­lat­ing AI com­pan­ies has pro­voked a back­lash from prom­in­ent Repub­lic­ans and Maga sup­port­ers, and accus­a­tions that he has caved to Big Tech donors.

The US pres­id­ent on Tues­day called for “one Fed­eral Stand­ard instead of a patch­work of 50 State Reg­u­lat­ory Regimes” to sup­port the sec­tor’s growth, des­pite vehe­ment oppos­i­tion from some Repub­lican sen­at­ors and gov­ernors.

The White House is even con­sid­er­ing an exec­ut­ive order that would poten­tially with­hold fed­eral funds from states who attempt to pass AI laws, accord­ing to a per­son famil­iar with the mat­ter.

Trump’s back­ing of a fed­eral frame­work — a pri­or­ity for Sil­icon Val­ley lob­by­ists who fear restric­tions on AI from some states — came two weeks after a group backed by ven­ture cap­ital firm Andreessen Horow­itz and an OpenAI co-founder was formed in Wash­ing­ton in part to fight state-led legis­la­tion.

Build Amer­ican AI’s leader Nathan Leamer vis­ited the White House just hours before Trump announced his decision to back the move that had already ignited out­rage among some Repub­lic­ans.