Brief

Trump warns data centers will shift to China if U.S. blocks projects

The former president linked the data‑center boom to the AI race and pledged to sign the Ratepayer Protection Act.

By Felo News Desk · Published Sun, 04 Oct 2026 09:24:23 GMT

Former President Donald Trump defended the rapid buildout of massive data centers on Saturday at a rally outside Dayton, Ohio, warning that blocking the projects would hand an advantage to China.

Speaking to supporters, Trump said, “There’s so much money to be made for Ohio. You can’t just turn them off. They’ll go to China,” and urged voters to back Republican Senate candidate Jon Husted and gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.

He framed the data‑center surge as part of a "superintelligence" race, claiming the United States leads China in artificial‑intelligence development and that China "doesn’t want to see us" while the U.S. is "beating China" in technology.

Trump also promoted legislation backed by Husted that would "stop data centers from raising electricity costs and require them to pay their own way," and said he would sign the Ratepayer Protection Act into law within 24 hours if Republicans win the midterms.

The rally featured images of the Vadata data‑center campus, an Amazon Web Services facility in New Albany, and highlighted concerns about the electricity, water and land demands of such projects, which have sparked bipartisan backlash over potential utility cost increases for households.

Key facts

Trump warned that blocking data centers would cause them to go to China (nypost.com)
He urged support for Ohio Senate candidate Jon Husted and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (nypost.com)
Trump pledged to sign the Ratepayer Protection Act within 24 hours if Republicans win the midterms (nypost.com)
He described the data‑center boom as part of a U.S. lead in a "superintelligence" AI race (nypost.com)
Legislation backed by Husted would stop data centers from raising electricity costs (nypost.com)