Warren Presses Trade Ambassador Greer on Trump Admin Special Favors to Advance Big Tech’s Dangerous Deregulatory Agenda
“American families have paid an average of $1,700 each in higher prices thanks to Trump tariffs, all while the U.S. has lost manufacturing jobs, but Big Tech companies continue to cash in.”
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Jamieson Greer on the Trump administration’s using tariffs to help Big Tech evade regulations that keep users safe — all while these tariffs jack up prices for American families and further decimate the manufacturing industry. The letter follows a recent episode involving Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, which resulted in the proliferation of millions of dangerous deepfakes, underscoring the danger of Trump’s campaign to advance Big Tech’s deregulatory agenda.
“I have repeatedly sounded the alarm that, while waging his costly global trade wars, President Trump is handing out special favors to advance Big Tech’s deregulatory agenda across the globe,” wrote Senator Warren.
On December 29, 2025, Elon Musk’s X unveiled a new feature allowing users to use Grok, X’s AI chatbot, to create and edit images with just one click. This tool sparked a wave of users requesting explicit deepfake images, enabling widespread sexual harassment — much of which targeted women and children. Authorities around the world reacted swiftly to these disturbing images using their online safety laws — laws that the Trump administration and USTR have since pushed other countries to repeal.
“The countries that took action against Grok—either by immediately cracking down on the app or taking steps to hold the company accountable after the fact—were able to do so because of their robust domestic online safety laws—the very laws that the Trump Administration and USTR have taken aim at in their ‘bilateral’ trade negotiations," wrote Senator Warren.
Big Tech companies have long lobbied to repeal commonsense tech regulations that protect users from harmful material and ensure that users’ data cannot be taken advantage of. They have found an enthusiastic partner in President Trump.
“The White House’s trade negotiations appear to be focused on securing advantages for the President and his tech billionaire friends, rather than delivering the new manufacturing jobs and balanced trade he promised American families,” wrote Senator Warren.
Trump claims that he launched his tariff war to help America’s blue-collar workers. But in reality, 88,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared in the last year, and the manufacturing trade deficit is up $62 billion. Simultaneously, Big Tech has received exemptions from many key tariffs affecting the industry and has benefited from Trump’s strategy of bullying other countries into repealing their pro-consumer and pro-competition policies. The tech policies the Trump administration has targeted not only protect citizens of other countries but also Americans at home.
Further, Trump’s disastrous trade policy has forced American families to pay an average of $1,700 each in higher prices, all while Big Tech companies continue to cash in. “At best, this is a colossal waste of American families’ money,” wrote the Senator.
The Senator requested that Ambassador Greer provide answers to her specific questions no later than April 14, 2026.
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