Trump Tells Hochul to Scrap New York's Data Center Moratorium 'Immediately'

Since Gov. Kathy Hochul signed New York's executive order Tuesday pausing new hyperscale data center construction for up to a year, the policy has drawn a direct rebuke from President Donald Trump, who wants it gone.

Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday that Hochul made a "terrible decision" and should change course "IMMEDIATELY." He called data centers "one of the biggest Driving Forces in the Future for Jobs" and said they are "big, strong, bold, and Money Machines for the State in which they are built," according to CNBC.

The president argued Hochul acted "for political reasons" and warned that New York's loss is somebody else's gain. "Both the Taxes and the Jobs amount to LIQUID GOLD!" he wrote, adding that the income would flow to "Red States, and some Blue," where data centers are treated as "Cash Cows," per the Guardian's report on his post.

Trump also took a shot at his own political opponents, saying "radical left democrats" would cause the U.S. to "lose Data Centers and AI" to China. Beijing is racing to build out its own AI infrastructure, and every data center the U.S. doesn't build is capacity China's companies could seize instead.

Hochul didn't back down. "We hit pause because the communities powering AI should share in its success," she posted on X. "Maybe that's a novel concept in Washington. We call it doing our job."

What The Order Actually Does

The executive order, the first statewide ban of its kind in the country, halts construction of data centers using 50 megawatts or more of power for up to a year. It directs state regulators to build a new framework addressing energy grid strain, land use, noise, and water supply, according to the Guardian.

Hochul's press release framed it around affordability: "As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it's my responsibility to take action and lead."

That's a legitimate governing concern. Data centers draw enormous amounts of power and water, and utility bills nationwide have been climbing as AI infrastructure expands. A Heatmap poll cited by the Guardian found nearly three-quarters of Americans oppose a data center being built near their own home. New York isn't alone: Seattle passed its own one-year data center moratorium in June, and more than a dozen states have considered similar bans.

Trump calls the moratorium a "terrible decision" driven by politics, but he doesn't grapple with the actual substance of Hochul's order, which is about who pays for the infrastructure and its externalities, not whether data centers should exist at all. Notably, Trump himself said Wednesday that data centers "must pay" for their own water and power, with excess going back to state and local communities. That's functionally close to what Hochul says she's trying to build a framework for. The two aren't as far apart on substance as the rhetoric suggests.

What Remains Unproven

Which side's economic prediction is right remains genuinely unproven. Trump says New York will lose jobs and tax revenue to states willing to host data centers with fewer strings attached. Hochul says the pause is temporary and aimed at building rules that let development continue without dumping costs onto ratepayers. Neither claim has been tested yet because the order is only one day old as of this writing.

There's also a legitimate worry from the business and grid-reliability side that a year is a long time in a fast-moving AI race, and companies deciding where to build next don't wait around for regulatory frameworks to get finalized. That's a real cost of the moratorium, even if you think the underlying goal, protecting ratepayers and water supply, is sound.

Trump was scheduled to headline a defense summit at the U.S. Army War College Wednesday, where he was expected to discuss investments in battlefield technology, according to the Guardian. Whether that speech touched on AI infrastructure policy, and whether the White House takes any formal action against New York's order, remains to be seen. For now, this is a fight conducted entirely in Truth Social posts and press releases, with no lawsuit, no federal directive, and no changed policy on either side.