Trump Says Anthropic Is No Longer a National Security Threat, But Leaves Defense Production Act on the Table

Since the Commerce Department issued its export control directive against Anthropic roughly a week ago, the U.S. government's posture toward the San Francisco AI company has shifted noticeably, though not completely. In an interview with Axios — pre-taped and published Friday, June 19 — President Trump was asked directly whether he views Anthropic or CEO Dario Amodei as a national security threat. His answer: "Well, not now. But a week ago, maybe." That's a notable reversal. The Commerce Department's order, issued the prior week, directed Anthropic to require U.S. government approval before allowing any foreign national to access its two most advanced AI models — Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Anthropic's response was immediate. The company disabled access to those models for all its customers globally — not just foreign nationals — to ensure compliance, according to the LA Times.

What Changed Between Last Week and Now

Two things happened that appear to have moved the needle. First, Anthropic's senior technical staff met with Trump administration officials this week to address the government's specific concerns about foreign access to its frontier models. Trump told Axios that Amodei "responded to us very quickly" and had "behaved very responsibly." Second, Amodei was among the tech executives who met with Trump and other G7 leaders at the summit in Évian-les-Bains, France. That in-person contact matters in this administration. Trump has a long track record of warming to people who show up and engage rather than fight from a distance.

An Anthropic spokesperson responded to the Axios interview with a statement reported by India Today: "We are grateful to the administration for their ongoing partnership in working to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible. We remain committed to working alongside them towards our shared goals of protecting critical infrastructure and making sure the US leads in AI." That's careful, corporate language — exactly what you'd expect from a company navigating a high-stakes government confrontation while pursuing a public offering.

The Defense Production Act Threat Is Still Alive

Trump did NOT close the door on using emergency powers. When asked about the Defense Production Act, he said, "I have the power to use a lot of things. But I'm not sure I have to do that," according to India Today's account of the Axios interview. The Defense Production Act would allow the administration to compel Anthropic to prioritize government contracts or directives. Invoking it against a private AI company would be a dramatic escalation. The fact that Trump left it on the table signals the relationship is cooperative for now, not resolved.

The Strongest Case for Anthropic's Critics

The administration's original alarms deserve serious attention. Anthropic's most advanced models are genuinely dual-use technology. A foreign national accessing them without restriction could, in theory, apply that capability to military planning, biological research, or cyber operations. The Commerce Department's concern wasn't manufactured. Frontier AI model access is a real vector for strategic competition with China and other adversaries.

Anthropic's critics inside the administration have also pointed to an ongoing dispute with the Pentagon. According to the LA Times, Anthropic has been embroiled for months in a feud with the Pentagon over extra guardrails the company sought for military use of its AI tools. In March, after contract talks broke down, the Defense Department declared the firm a supply-chain risk and is moving to seek other AI providers for the armed forces. From the administration's vantage point, a company resisting military applications while potentially allowing foreign access to the same models is a legitimate policy problem, not just a PR flap. That concern deserves a real answer, not just a spokesperson statement about "shared goals."

What's Actually at Stake

This is, as the LA Times described it, the most significant U.S. government intervention to date into an AI company's operations. It comes at a difficult moment for Anthropic's business timeline. The company filed confidentially for an initial public offering in recent weeks. Having to shut off your flagship models globally — even temporarily — is not a story investors or prospective public market shareholders want to hear.

Trump said he wouldn't shut Anthropic down, framing the U.S. lead over China in AI as a reason to keep the company operating. "I would, but I'm not sure I have to do that. I think so far it's been very responsible," he told Axios.

Anthropid officials were expected to meet with the White House earlier this week, according to prior reporting by the LA Times, but no public resolution of the foreign-access policy has been announced.