America
Palantir, endless war, and the global Zionist surveillance state
In the previous article in this series, we stated that the Palantir company was a product of the “counter-terrorism” concept that followed September 11th.
The Dissident blog points out that Palantir’s system is based on the “Total Information Awareness” idea of John Poindexter, a former Reagan-era official who proposed the creation of a massive database containing all information on American citizens after the 9/11 attacks.
Poindexter and Richard Perle, one of the neocon architects of the Iraq War, met with Palantir’s founders, Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, because their new company, Palantir, “had a similar purpose to what Poindexter was trying to create at the Pentagon.”
Palantir soon incorporated and received millions of dollars in funding from In-Q-Tel, the venture capital investment arm of the CIA.
Palantir’s software allowed intelligence agencies to create a massive database on Americans. Bloomberg wrote, “Using Palantir technology, the FBI can now create comprehensive files on U.S. citizens in an instant, combining security camera footage from outside a pharmacy with credit card transactions, cell phone records, emails, flight records, and internet search histories.”
Within the framework of Palantir’s mission to “save Western civilization,” its bond with Israel, which operates as the spearhead [a translation of uç beyi, a historical term for a frontier lord or vanguard] of this civilization, deserves special attention.
The New York Times wrote, “Mr. Karp is unwavering in his support for Israel. The company took out a full-page ad in The New York Times last year declaring, ‘Palantir stands with Israel.'”
The company’s official social media accounts openly supported Israel’s attacks in Gaza, which have amounted to genocide. On October 11, 2023, the company tweeted, “Certain kinds of evil can only be fought with force. Palantir stands with Israel.”
On October 7, 2024, exactly one year after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, the company’s official X account once again reiterated its support for the genocide in Gaza, tweeting, “Palantir remembers October 7th. We stand with Israel.”
Alex Karp openly expressed his pro-war and pro-Israel views. The CEO told The New York Times that Israel should “turn [Gaza] into a parking lot.”
In the same New York Times article, Karp described protests against providing weapons to Israel as “an infection within society,” stating that he supported stopping these protests.
Karp also boasted to the newspaper that he uses his technology to sustain the war in Ukraine and the occupation in Gaza, saying, “I am not going to apologize for giving our product to Ukraine, to Israel or to many other places.”(1)
In an interview to Time, Karp said he saw an opportunity in Ukraine for Palantir to fulfill its mission to “defend the West” and “make our enemies tremble with fear.”
Government officials were trained to use Palantir’s tool called MetaConstellation, which provides a near-real-time picture of a specific battlefield using commercial data, including satellite imagery.
Palantir’s software integrates this information with commercial and classified government data, including from allies, allowing military officials to relay enemy positions to commanders on the ground or to decide to strike a target. This is part of what Karp calls the digital “kill chain.”
At a Palantir earnings call in 2024, Karp boasted, “I am exceedingly proud that after October 7th, within a couple of weeks, we were on the ground in Israel and involved in operationally crucial operations.”
When Karp was protested by a Palestinian activist at a conference for Palantir’s role in aiding the genocide in Gaza, he said, “I believe he [the protester] is a product of an evil force of Hamas that he is not aware of. He is part of their strategy, their product, without being aware of it.”
In a 2024 interview with CNBC, Karp said that supporting Israel was the most important issue for him, asking, “The most important issue of our day is war and peace, and the most important metaphor for that is: What do you think about what’s happening in Israel?”
Karp also called for an end to pro-Palestinian protests. At a conference, Karp said, “What’s happening on university campuses [referring to pro-Palestinian protests] is some sort of sideshow—no, they are the main show, because if we lose the intellectual debate, you can’t deploy any army in the West.”
Palantir’s mastermind, Peter Thiel, shares similar views. When asked about Israel’s use of artificial intelligence in Gaza, Thiel said, “I don’t know all the details of what’s going on in Israel, because my bias is to defer to Israel.”
Thiel continued, saying he believed that “in general” the Israeli army has the right to decide what it wants to do and that “in general” it is in the right.
This commitment to Israel does not end there.
The company is so intertwined with Israel that it boasted on social media about holding its first board meeting of 2024 in Tel Aviv.
Before the board meeting, Karp and Thiel met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and shared the meeting on social media, writing, “We are proud to stand with Israel, supporting its culture of innovation, technology, and democracy.”
Following the board meeting, CTECH reported that Palantir announced it had signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to “provide Palantir technology to aid the country’s war efforts.”
The agreement was signed after a meeting between Israeli defense officials and Thiel and Karp.
After signing the deal, Karp told Israeli entrepreneur Yossi Vardi:
“There are many people in the (tech) industry who are not as pro-Israel as I am, but they too see Israel as a very special place and generally understand Israel’s position better and appreciate the success of building a country out of the desert.”
Globes, an Israeli business news site, reported that during this trip, Karp “participated in a public event at Tel Aviv University” and “showered praise on Israel.”
Globes wrote that Israel was preparing to purchase from Palantir “an AI-based system called AIP, designed to assist in intelligence-based decision-making and to analyze enemy targets and recommend combat moves.”
The same report also included the claim that Palantir expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue from the deal with Israel.
Journalist Antony Loewenstein writes, “Israel’s military-industrial complex sees its occupation as a vital testing ground for trying out the latest methods of killing and surveillance.”
Loewenstein points out that Palestinians are seen as “guinea pigs,” but this activity is not limited to Palestine (Karp told Time, “There are things we can do on the battlefield that we can’t do at home”). According to him, “Silicon Valley has taken notice,” and the new Trump era “heralds an even tighter alliance between big tech, Israel, and the defense sector.”
William Hartung, evaluating Palantir and American foreign policy for Responsible Statecraft, states that Palantir’s goal is “to shape overall U.S. national security policy, which in turn can determine what military technologies the U.S. will invest in for the next generation.”
After starting his new role as Palantir’s head of defense, former Republican Representative Mike Gallagher promised to use his connections within the government to facilitate the growth of emerging military technology companies, largely by securing a larger share of tax revenues.
Another characteristic of Gallagher is that he stood out as a leading “China hawk” during his time in Congress. Gallagher is the co-author of a recent article in Foreign Affairs titled “No Substitute for Victory: America’s Competition With China Must Be Won, Not Managed.”
In the article, Gallagher and his co-author Matthew Pottinger argue that the U.S. “must implement a better policy” and call for action to rearm the U.S. military, reduce China’s economic influence, and build a broader coalition against China.
Judging by his stance as chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, Gallagher’s views are quite close to those of Palantir’s executives.
Close, because Palantir CEO Alex Karp has said that the U.S. will “probably” go to war with China and that the best policy is to “scare the shit out of your enemy.”
In a moment of striking candor, Karp admitted, “Our product is sometimes used to kill people”: “If I were younger in college, would I be protesting myself?”
Palantir’s advisor, Jacob Helberg, described the company as “the AI arms dealer of the 21st century.”
Karp has long rejected the widespread criticism that Palantir’s products enable governments to conduct warrantless surveillance of their citizens.
When I say he rejects them, don’t think he denies the reality. It’s more of a, “Yes, I do it, but you should ask why I do it.”
The CEO says he sees a “moral imperative” to provide Western governments with the best new technologies, calling for “closer collaboration between the state and the tech sector,” which he believes will allow the West to maintain its superiority over its global rivals.
For years, the U.S. has imposed strict regulations on the export of weapons systems to foreign countries due to the lack of accountability once they are in the hands of users and the possibility of serious war crimes being committed. At least, that’s how it is on paper.
But Karp legitimizes his own products by saying, “The power of advanced algorithmic warfare systems is now so great that it is equivalent to having tactical nuclear weapons against an enemy that only has conventional weapons.”
If the West didn’t have “real enemies,” Karp told Bloomberg, he would be one of those trying to limit the use of artificial intelligence in the military: “But the reality we live in now, as Israel knows, is that our enemies are real and dangerous and operate far beyond the norms of behavior.”
Karp stated in 2023 that Palantir was in talks with “hundreds” of potential partners about its AIP platform, but details like pricing and terms were still being determined.
Karp told analysts that Palantir was refocusing its engineering teams and other resources on artificial intelligence to meet demand, stating that it was “aggressively pursuing” this opportunity.
“How Big Tech Captured the Army”
This was the headline of a June 17 report in The Bulwark.
The recent entry of officials from high-tech companies like Meta, OpenAI, and Palantir into the military has raised concerns that Silicon Valley is taking control.
But is it just the American military? NATO announced it will use Palantir’s artificial intelligence platform for “faster military decision-making.” The MSS NATO system aims to automate data analysis that previously required large teams.
Berliner Zeitung reported that in the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition negotiations, it was agreed that the CSU would take over the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the future. This means Palantir will have more opportunities at the federal level, as in Bavaria, where the CSU is in power, the state police have been using the company’s software since August of last year.
According to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, the cross-procedural research and analysis platform VeRA makes it possible to “quickly and reliably analyze and process large amounts of data from a wide variety of sources and to generate important findings at high speed.”
Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia are also currently using Palantir. According to information from Bayerischer Rundfunk, Berlin and Baden-Württemberg are also currently considering collaborating with the company.(2)
In the United Kingdom, Palantir already has a £330 million National Health Service (NHS) data contract. In May, to encourage hospitals to adopt this technology, the government signed an £8 million deal with consulting giant KPMG to “promote the adoption” of Palantir’s technology in the NHS. London also used Palantir systems to monitor its military.
Until now, the Pentagon’s known “Gang of Five” consisted of the following companies: Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.
A recent report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reveals that the share of private companies in the Pentagon’s defense spending is steadily increasing.
Over the last 35 years, the Pentagon has allocated a growing portion of its budget to private sector contracts. In the fiscal years 1990-1999, the Pentagon’s average annual spending on contracts amounted to 41% of its total spending. This ratio has increased every decade: in the first five years of this decade, the share of private companies in the Pentagon budget reached a record high of 54%.
For the 2020-2024 period, $2.4 trillion of the total $4.4 trillion in defense spending was awarded to private companies.
However, the overwhelming majority of this share went to five large companies. Between 2020 and 2024, the Pentagon’s top five arms suppliers received contracts totaling $771 billion. This amount committed to the top five companies constitutes one-third of the total $2.4 trillion in contracts awarded by the Pentagon between 2020 and 2024.
Lockheed Martin was the clear leader with $313 billion in contracts between 2020 and 2024, while its closest competitor, Raytheon (now RTX), received $145 billion in contracts.
However, the report’s findings point to something else: this dominance is increasingly under threat from a new generation of military technology companies.
While the big five companies continue to hold a large portion of the Pentagon’s defense spending budget, there has been an increase in new contracts with tech firms specializing in artificial intelligence for military applications such as drones, unmanned ships, and armored vehicles.
The rise of these new military technology firms marks the biggest shift in the arms industry in the last five years.
The report states, “Companies like SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril have received billions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon for communications, targeting, unmanned vehicles, drone defense systems, and hypersonic weapons. The funds from these contracts will be transferred to the companies over time, which will place them among the Pentagon’s largest contractors in terms of contract value in the next few years.”
According to the report, Palantir signed a $618 million contract with the army for a data platform using artificial intelligence, a $480 million contract to continue work on the Project Maven targeting system, and a five-year, $463 million contract with the U.S. Special Operations Command to integrate advanced commercial software into its operations.
The report notes, “As the Pentagon moves toward AI-powered weapons systems, including swarms of drones, ships, and combat vehicles, the dominance of the Big Five companies may diminish.”
In the first quarter of 2025, Palantir’s revenue grew by 39% year-over-year, while its U.S. sales increased by 55%. The commercial division now generates $1 billion in annual revenue, indicating long-term demand in sectors such as energy, finance, and logistics.
“This diversity is vital,” writes AInvest. Palantir’s AI platforms are being adopted by critical infrastructure operators to mitigate risks such as cyberattacks, a significant security vulnerability due to “Iran’s asymmetric warfare tactics.” Partnerships with cybersecurity firms like Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike further strengthen defense capabilities against state-sponsored threats.(3)
“AI self-confidence” is coming to the fore. In a brochure/article titled “Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy” published on Anduril’s blog, the Gang of Five are described as “relics of the Cold War” that must be eliminated if America wants to take the lead in developing and producing the weapons of the future:
“Why can’t the existing defense companies do better? The largest defense companies are staffed by patriots, but they lack the software expertise or business model to build the technology we need. Tomorrow’s weapons—autonomous systems, cyber weapons and defenses, networked systems, and more—run on software, while these companies specialize in hardware. These companies work slowly, while the best engineers enjoy working fast… These companies built the tools that kept us safe in the past, but they are not the future of our defense.”
Palantir’s stock price more than quadrupled last year, making it more valuable than RTX and Lockheed Martin at the beginning of this year. Behind these shadowy companies is a new breed of predators known as “venture capital” (VC). Leading VC firms like Thiel’s Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Lux Capital are among the rising stars of the defense sector, such as Anduril, Hadrian, and Rebellion Defense.
Furthermore, new defense monopolies are forming. A consortium led by Anduril and Palantir plans to join with other defense technology companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, Saronic, and Scale AI to bid jointly on military contracts.
In this process, venture capitalists are not only achieving high returns on investment but also gaining increasing influence over U.S. foreign policy. Michael Kratsios, Thiel’s former chief advisor, and other Thiel-connected individuals, including Jacob Helberg, a senior advisor at Palantir, are being appointed to positions such as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, respectively.
“Working for the Pentagon doesn’t seem like a bad thing anymore,” says William Hartung, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “Many of these new companies seem to want it very much, and venture capital firms are facilitating it.”
Palmer Luckey of Anduril describes venture capitalists who want to protect their current investments as “hawkish,” saying, “Anyone who cares about Ukraine is also watching Taiwan, because… a slide south for Taiwan poses a real existential threat to many of their investments [there]. For this reason, we see a hawkish stance in most venture capitalists.”(4)
A representative of the VC group America’s Frontier Fund (AFF) is more blunt, not hesitating to say, referring to Taiwan: “If there is a kinetic event in the Pacific, some of our investments will increase 10-fold overnight.”
Under the heading “geopolitical impact risks,” AInvest implies that Palantir is comfortable: “Rising tensions in the Middle East, the South China Sea, and Eastern Europe ensure that the demand for analytical services in this area remains stable.”
The most carrion-like version of capitalism wants endless war, a global Zionist surveillance empire.
(1) Time magazine writes that Palantir CEO Alex Karp was “the first major Western corporate leader to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s invasion.” The article admits that in the year and a half since Karp’s first meeting with Zelensky, Palantir has become “unprecedentedly involved” in the daily affairs of a foreign government at war: “More than half a dozen Ukrainian institutions, including the Ministries of Defense, Economy, and Education, use the company’s products. According to Karp, Palantir’s software, which analyzes satellite imagery, open-source data, drone footage, and reports from the ground using artificial intelligence to present military options to commanders, is ‘responsible for most of the targeting in Ukraine.’ Ukrainian officials said they use the company’s data analysis for projects that go far beyond battlefield intelligence, including collecting evidence of war crimes, clearing landmines, resettling displaced refugees, and rooting out corruption.” More interestingly, Time notes that Palantir offered its services to Ukraine for free to use the bloody war as a testing ground, claiming, “Palantir was so eager to showcase its capabilities that it provided them to Ukraine for free.”
(2) The Germany-Palantir relationship requires separate examination. Mathias Döpfner, CEO and co-owner of the German media giant Axel Springer, which owns POLITICO, has very close ties with Palantir founder Peter Thiel. His son, Moritz Döpfner, previously served as managing director at the billionaire’s family office, Thiel Capital. According to the German press, the younger Döpfner had established a new venture capital fund with a $50 million investment from Thiel. From a podcast Mathias Döpfner did with Karp in 2019, we also learn that the Palantir executive was on Axel Springer’s supervisory board at the time. It was leaked to the media that Axel Springer requires its employees to sign a contract demanding commitment to the free market, support for the US-Europe alliance, and “support for Israel’s right to exist.” From a 2019 report in Business Insider, which is majority-owned by Axel Springer, we learn that Palantir had passed data to police forces in the country about Anis Amri, who carried out an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016.
(3) One of the secrets to Palantir’s commercial success is its creation of an “ecosystem.” The Pentagon’s Maven user base has doubled since the beginning of 2024, reaching 20,000 users across 35 vehicles. AInvest writes: “The global defense AI market is projected to reach $40 billion by 2030, with governments prioritizing ‘information dominance’ over traditional hardware. Palantir’s AI infrastructure is not just a tool, but an ecosystem platform. Its ability to integrate data from different domains (e.g., the all-domain command and control system of CJADC2) creates high switching costs and recurring revenue streams.”
(4) Let’s not forget the Middle East: The Pentagon, which uses Palantir’s Maven Smart System (MSS), increased the MSS contract by $795 million in 2024, bringing the total amount to $1.3 billion by 2029. This system, managed by Aberdeen Proving Ground, currently serves five major combatant commands, including Central Command (CENTCOM), the center of operations in the Middle East. MSS uses artificial intelligence to analyze surveillance data (satellite images, video streams) in real-time, enabling intelligence fusion, target identification, and battlefield decision-making. This capability is vital in scenarios such as tracking the movements of the Iranian military near the Strait of Hormuz or monitoring nuclear facilities. NATO’s adoption of the MSS-NATO variant in 2025 further underscores Palantir’s global role: the alliance is using generative AI and machine learning tools to enhance allied command operations, with integration completed in just six months.
America
US Treasury yield surge signals end of cheap money era as capital demand rises
The relentless rise in US Treasury yields indicates that a significantly higher return is now required to convince investors to lend their capital.
According to Axios, this trend reflects a new global economic reality. Unlike previous bond sell-offs driven by inflation fears, the current environment stems from a world where governments and corporations are scrambling to secure vast sums of capital to finance expanding fiscal deficits, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and other major capital commitments.
This fierce competition for capital is forcing borrowers to offer higher returns. The positive takeaway, according to Axios, is that inflation expectations appear well-anchored, suggesting these developments will not trigger an emergency response from the Federal Reserve.
However, the trend implies that policy benchmark interest rates will need to remain at elevated levels for years to come to maintain economic equilibrium.
Furthermore, this shift significantly complicates fiscal planning in Washington by raising the financing costs of an already expanding national debt.
For prospective home buyers, it signals that mortgage rates are unlikely to decline in the near term.
Even as Treasury yields have climbed, long-term inflation pricing in the bond market has remained virtually unchanged.
The 10-year break-even inflation rate—a market-based metric reflecting future inflation expectations—rose to 2.28% following the renewed escalation of conflict in the Middle East since late June.
Nevertheless, this figure remains below its early May peak of 2.5% and stays within a range fully aligned with the Federal Reserve’s long-term 2% inflation target.
Despite the relatively stable inflation outlook, Treasury yields have continued their upward trajectory. The 10-year yield crossed 4.7% this morning, reaching its highest level since last January.
The surge in real yields is even more pronounced at the longer end of the curve: the yield on 30-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) currently stands at 2.97%.
This marks the highest yield recorded for the security since its reintroduction in 2010.
Taken together, these dynamics demonstrate that investors are not merely pricing in higher inflation; rather, they are demanding higher real compensation to commit funds over the long horizon.
For much of the past two decades, bond market movements were driven primarily by inflationary trends and central bank policy interventions.
At present, however, the interest rate environment is being shaped directly by the dynamics of lendable funds: a limited supply set against a seemingly unlimited demand.
During the 2010s, global markets were characterized by an excess of capital chasing a scarce set of productive investment opportunities, maintaining historical lows for the cost of capital.
Today, the situation has reversed. Corporations are embarking on their largest capital expenditure boom in decades while governments run expansive budget deficits—with both competing for the exact same pool of capital.
As Axios notes:
“Consider Alphabet’s announcement to investors last night: the company raised its capital expenditure plans for this year by an additional $15 billion, with Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi noting that demand for computing capacity ‘still outpaces this investment.’”
If these elevated interest rates persist, the debt servicing costs of the US government will become far less manageable than currently projected.
Estimates published by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in February assumed that 10-year Treasury yields would average 4.1% this year and 4.3% over the subsequent few years.
According to CBO projections, every persistent 0.1 percentage point increase in interest rates over the next decade will add $379 billion to the government’s net interest expenses over that period.
Rough calculations suggest that if the recent yield trend persists, taxpayers will face approximately $1.8 trillion in additional interest costs over the coming decade.
There remains a possibility that this movement in the multi-trillion-dollar global bond market represents a temporary summer fluctuation.
However, the persistent spikes in yield rates suggest that a fundamental structural shift is underway across global capital markets.
America
US House panel unanimously passes bill to shield consumers from AI data center energy costs
Amid growing pushback in the US Congress over the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure, a bipartisan bill aimed at capping the impact of data centers on residential electricity bills is gaining momentum in the House of Representatives.
The Ratepayer Protection Act mandates that state utility regulators evaluate standards that would shift the burden of electricity costs from individual consumers onto technology companies.
The proposed legislation cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a unanimous 52-0 vote—a result demonstrating that public and political resistance to data center construction has breached party lines.
Designed to codify commitments made by tech executives to the White House earlier this year, the text requires state regulatory bodies to hold formal proceedings on the issue.
The measure mandates the consideration of a standard under which large data centers would be required to absorb the expenses of new power generation or transmission capacity necessitated by their electricity consumption; however, it stops short of compelling states to ultimately adopt those standards.
In a statement following the vote, Representative Brett Guthrie, the Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said: “When evaluating the industry as a whole, it has become clear that there is only one body capable of standing alongside the families and communities who pay electricity bills—and that is this committee, along with our colleagues in Congress.”
The legislation has also found traction in the upper chamber. Republican Senator Jon Husted introduced a companion measure in the Senate last week. A spokesperson for Husted noted that the senator was pleased with the House committee’s approval and its bipartisan support, adding that he would continue working to pass the bill through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee toward final enactment.
Despite its accelerating legislative pace, whether the measure will ultimately become law remains uncertain.
Matt VanHyfte, a spokesperson for the Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, noted in an emailed statement that he remains confident the bill will continue its advance following its successful committee passage.
Clara Summers, director of the Consumers for a Better Grid campaign at the Citizens Utility Board, observed that while the bill does not impose direct mandatory standards on states, directive language from Congress serves a useful purpose.
“There are states that have not addressed this issue proactively. Therefore, a signal from Congress stating, ‘You must at least place this topic on your agenda within a specified timeframe,’ represents a constructive incentive,” Summers said.
Summers emphasized that the standards submitted for state evaluation under the bill would hold data centers accountable for generation, transmission, distribution, and other associated costs, though the final determination on whether to act rests entirely with state authorities.
While supporting the measure, several Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee characterized the legislation as merely an initial step rather than a comprehensive solution.
Democratic Representative Nannette Barragán noted that while the bill recognizes a critical principle, it falls short of what is required. “We must do more to protect families from soaring electricity costs while simultaneously addressing the attendant health and environmental impacts,” Barragán said.
Data centers—the backbone of artificial intelligence development—are encountering intensifying grassroots resistance as technology firms push to construct new server warehouses and expand their computing power.
Local communities are challenging projects over rising electricity rates, high water consumption, and potential environmental pollution. Certain analysts also link this opposition to broader public anxieties regarding AI, including job displacement.
Public enthusiasm for data center developments, which until last year were widely viewed by both Democrats and Republicans as prime economic investments, is visibly eroding.
According to a survey published by Politico, 41% of Americans now oppose the construction of a data center in their local area, compared to 24% who support it. In January, opposition stood at 28%, with support at 36%.
Democratic Representative Kathy Castor, a co-sponsor of the bill, argued that the legislative package before the committee does not go far enough to resolve the underlying crisis.
Pointing to the Republican majority in the House, Castor said: “I believe the majority must take more decisive action right now to lower household electricity bills. Bipartisan bills are a good first step, but they fall short in this period of energy inflation.”
Castor expressed regret that her own proposal, which would require federal regulators to accelerate the grid interconnection process for new power sources, was not brought up for consideration by the committee.
Nevertheless, Castor commended the bill for sending a clear message to developers: “If a company wants to build a data center, it must pay for the power and grid upgrades it requires.”
Camden Weber, a senior climate and energy policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Hill that congressional focus on affordability was welcome, though incomplete. “It is positive that Congress is addressing pricing issues. We are experiencing an affordability crisis; people are struggling to pay their bills, particularly energy bills. However, concerns surrounding data centers extend well beyond this. There are environmental issues, water scarcity, and air pollution. While this bill appears well-intentioned, it does not go far enough,” Weber said.
Weber further criticized the legislation for establishing an optional framework for states rather than a binding mandate.
Conversely, several lawmakers view this structural flexibility as a primary strength of the text.
Democratic Representative Troy Carter emphasized during the committee markup that the federal government should refrain from overreach. “The key point is that Washington is not dictating terms to Louisiana. This bill does not force state regulatory commissions to adopt a specific rate structure. It establishes a federal standard for state public utility commissions to evaluate, leaving the ultimate implementation strategy to their discretion,” Carter said.
Carter added that local regulators are best positioned to assess the specific requirements of their own jurisdictions.
Responding via email regarding the policy impact of the legislation, Republican committee spokesperson Ben Mullany stated that lawmakers are working in tandem with states and utility providers to ensure grid efficiency.
“The Ratepayer Protection Act sends a strong signal from Congress to the states. States need to examine these massive computing loads and work to ensure that residential customers do not bear the financial burden of generating and transmitting the power required for these data centers,” Mullany said.
The proposed legislation has drawn resistance from the technology sector. The Data Center Coalition, an industry group backed by major tech firms, voiced strong opposition to recent modifications that narrowed the scope of the bill exclusively to data centers.
Josh Levi, president and chief executive officer of the Data Center Coalition, stated that while the organization initially supported the original version and intent of the legislation, the latest revisions were counterproductive.
“The amendments introduced by the Energy and Commerce Committee narrow the scope of the bill to target the data center industry exclusively. This leaves consumers unprotected against the costs associated with substantial load additions driven by other expanding sectors across the United States,” Levi said.
America
US enacts new tariffs on 60 trading partners following legal setback
A new wave of US tariffs targeting 60 trading partners came into effect today (July 24).
The new tariffs replace a global duty introduced earlier this year by President Donald Trump, which was set to expire.
The tariffs range between 10% and 12.5%, impacting major economies such as China, India, and the European Union.
“The US has prohibited the importation of goods produced with forced labor for nearly a century and rigorously enforces that prohibition; it is long past time for our trading partners to do the same,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.
Greer previously added that the targeted economies account for the majority of US trade.
Following a Supreme Court decision in February that struck down a series of tariffs imposed by the President—delivering a blow to the President’s ability to levy high tariffs at will—the Trump administration moved swiftly to rebuild the President’s “tariff wall.”
After that setback, Trump invoked different legal authorities to reimpose a 10% duty on imports. However, that measure lasted only 150 days and expired today.
The new series of tariffs, initially proposed in June, is now coming into force.
These measures were planned following months of investigation and are considered more resilient to legal challenges compared to previous actions.
According to Thursday’s announcement, a lower rate of 10% will apply to economies that prohibit or commit to prohibiting the import of goods produced using forced labor.
These include Canada, the EU, India, and the United Kingdom.
China, Japan, South Korea, and dozens of other nations have been subjected to a higher tariff rate of 12.5%.
However, the EU, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland will benefit from certain exemptions under trade agreements previously signed with the US.
The new tariffs were immediately condemned by target countries. Japan stated it found the duties “regrettable,” while the Australian trade minister described them as “unfair.”
Goods already subject to sector-specific tariffs, such as steel and aluminum, will not be affected.
A US official told reporters that specific energy products and fertilizers, as well as goods covered under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, will also be exempt.
Washington is separately investigating 16 economies over “excess industrial capacity,” inquiries that could lead to additional tariffs.
Experts warn that this could ultimately result in differing rates across countries.
Trade lawyer Greta Peisch told AFP that the Trump administration’s move to implement a baseline tariff while maintaining the threat of additional duties preserves its leverage over trading partners.
Peisch added that this also creates an incentive for countries to comply with previously signed trade agreements.
By taking time for investigations, officials want to ensure that the tariffs imposed are robust in the event of court challenges.
Peisch is a former general counsel at the Office of the US Trade Representative and currently serves as a partner at Wiley Rein.
Josh Lipsky of the Atlantic Council told AFP, “This makes it much more likely that tariffs will remain in place throughout Trump’s term,” pointing to a “much more protectionist global economy” ahead.
Lipsky added that the reimposition of tariffs also increases government revenues.
Former US trade official Ryan Majerus said the Trump administration is seeking options that will allow it to aggressively enforce tariffs.
Majerus noted that, in the long run, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which Greer invoked to apply the latest tariffs, offers “more flexibility than people realize.”
Majerus, now a partner at King & Spalding, added that once the tariffs are in place, officials can modify them based on new developments.
This latest move comes shortly after a 25% tariff on various Brazilian goods took effect after Washington accused the Latin American giant of unfair trade practices.
This week, Trump also ordered new 50% tariffs on many Canadian products, citing Ottawa’s “discriminatory treatment” of American alcoholic beverages, automobiles, and dairy products.
Lipsky noted that the Canadian tariffs, set to take effect in a month, are based on an untested legal provision, demonstrating that Trump possesses other tools he can rapidly deploy.
This situation indicates that US tariff agreements remain “fragile.”
Nevertheless, the EU, which has signed a trade deal, expects Washington to “abide by the commitments set out in the EU-US Joint Statement.”
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