President Trump Signs Executive Orders in the Oval Office, May 23, 2025

Well, thank you very much. We have a very big announcement today and has to do with nuclear energy and other things. And this is all nuclear. It's a hot industry. It's a brilliant industry. You have to do it right. It's become very safe and environmental. Yes, 100%. So I'm going to ask Doug Burgum to talk about it a little bit to start and maybe Will, you'll follow him up.

Yes, sir.

And we're going to have Pete Hagseth speak from a military standpoint. But this is very all inclusive. We're signing tremendous executive orders today that really will make us the real power in this industry, which is a big industry. Doug, why don't you go ahead?

Well, thank you, President Trump. This is a huge day for the nuclear industry. Mark this day on your calendar. This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation of an industry. America has always American greatness has always come from innovation. And we were very innovative. We led post World War II in all things nuclear. But then we've been stagnated. We've choked it with over regulation. Today, Will is going to walk us through a series of four executive orders. Each of these help attack separate issues that have held back this industry. And with us today, we've got a number of CEOs from the industry, representing some of our largest nuclear providers. But also a big change. This is a time when capital and competition has finally come to this industry. We've got venture capital, we've got startups coming into all aspects of small modular nuclear, and we've also got an EO that's talking about the importance of us having a secure supply chain of being able to get that fuel load here in the United States as opposed from from foreign sources. This has impacts on national security, on our defense. And again, President Trump here today has committed to energy dominance. And part of that energy dominance is that we've got enough electricity to win the AI arms race with China. What we do in the next five years related to electricity is going to determine the next 50 because it's the first time in history where electricity can be translated into intelligence. And we need that intelligence for every aspect of our economy, but also for defense. Pete Higseth in Department of Defense has been a key part of this. And this is going to help us make sure that we're providing the defense we need, where we need that AI need the electricity, but also to secure our bases here at home and around the world. Secretary Sure.

I have to just add to that if we're going to will energy security is national security. If we don't have reliable energy for our basing for our troops, whether forward deployed or domestically, we're vulnerable. So by having small modular nuclear capabilities which are rapidly being fielded that we can use on our bases here and around the world, we're creating an environment where if things happen elsewhere, the military can be relied upon. Also we need. We're including artificial intelligence in everything we do. If we don't, we're not fast enough. We're not keeping up with adversaries. You need the energy to fuel it. Nuclear is a huge part of that, modular or otherwise. So we're going to have the lights on and AI operating when others do. Not faster than everybody else because of nuclear capability. So this is a big game changer.

For us as well. And we're also talking about the big plants, the very, very big. The biggest. We're going to be doing them also. But we're going to start off a little bit. I think our focus today is the smaller module. But included in this group we're also doing big plans where needed. They won't be needed too much, but they'll literally be able to do it in the entire state. And you've read a lot about cost overruns in a couple of states that were pretty significant, but we're not going to have cost overruns. And the technology has come a long way, both in safety and cost and everything else. Would a couple of you guys like to talk about your companies and you want to say anything?

Joe, why don't you kick it off?

Sure.

My name is Joe Dominguez. I run Constellation Energy. We have about 25% of the nation's fleet. We're the largest publicly traded nuclear company in the world. We're in the middle of a merger with Calpine and once completed, we will be the largest electric producing company in the world. About enough power to produce to cover all of Mexico, actually.

I didn't know that when we talked. You were so modest, I can't believe it.

That's normally not said about me. Mr. President, I'm very impressed.

Go ahead. So you think it's got a great future?

Yeah. Well, absolutely, we do. And the big change here is not only the technology has come around, but we have some of the largest companies in the world. The hyperscalers who need this energy for AI who are now working with us to fund the development and construction of the next generation nuclear. Nuclear is a 24. 7 resource. These data centers run 24 7. Some of them will cost two, $300 billion, and they want to run them all of the time. So we can't use intermittent resources. We need something that's always on 24. 7. And nothing does that better than nuclear. The problem in the industry has historically been regulatory delay. Mr. President, you know this because you. You're the best at building big things. Delay in regulations and permitting will absolutely kill you because if you can't get the plant on, you can't get revenue, and the interest costs are horrible. We're wasting too much time on permitting, and we're answering silly questions, not the important ones. For example. Let me give you an example. In three places in this country, we're trying to license new reactors at sites that already have reactors. Yet I have to spend $35 billion at each site just for the NRC to do an analysis that says this is a good place for nuclear. Well, guess what? We've been running nuclear in that community for four decades. Why are we even asking that question? I'd rather spend that $35 million three times $105 million, perfecting design, start building the foundation and getting going. We need to do this for America.

Are we doing something about the regulatory in here?

Oh, yes, sir. You are, sir. That's going to be a yes, sir. That. That issue I just described will be addressed in this EO and many other issues that we don't have time with.

The president to come say. It's very. We've contemplated just about everything. Right.

Well, this, Mr. President, this energy dominance council that you have created is something I haven't seen in 30 years. It brings together all the pieces of government in one place to expedite the process under Secretary Burgum's leadership. This has been an amazing, amazing thing. It used to be the case that I have to run to about five different places in Washington, get one answer, and now it's all together in one place. So all I know about Secretary Burgum, Secretary Wright, is if we. We haven't gotten it right, we'll get it right shortly. And there'll be another order for you to sign. Thank you so much for your leadership.

Jesse, you want to say something?

Well, I was just going to say commercial nuclear, a bit of an unsung hero. And I just want to thank you, Mr. President, Secretary Bergam, Secretary Wright, for bringing this attention to commercial nuclear. We have the largest and most safe fleet right here in the United States. And upon that, we have fantastic innovation that's being. Being brought forward. And it's going to come in all shapes and sizes and it's going to actually be coming through some of these companies that you see represented here. We're going to have great jobs, we're going to have wonderful energy and we're going to be ready. So thank you Mr. President for leaning in.

Appreciate it. Great job you've done too. How about talking about your company and the job you're going to do?

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Well, first of all, a little MIT nuclear connection that goes back into familial for you. So yeah, we're working on small reactors. I'm taking to CEO co founder at oklo, working on small next generation reactors that take technology America invented, developed and pioneered and bringing it to the market after it sat on the shelves of history for about 40 years. And it's because of the actions that you're doing today that are going to help unleash that changing the permitting dynamics is going to help things move faster. We're seeing private investment flow into this space like we've never seen before. We went public about a year ago and one of the most successful actually go public outcomes for transaction like that for a small nuclear company because the market needs this and wants this under your leadership creating the dominance council. I mean it's hard to overstate the value of that. And nuclear is a manifestation of energy dominance. In fact, a golf ball of uranium metal, which this is not, but it's a golf ball, has enough energy content in it to power your entire life's energy needs. I mean it doesn't get any better than that. And to get back to building, nuclear uses the fewest materials, right? The least amount of concrete, of steel, of fuel for amount of energy produces. So it should be the cheapest, the most scalable, the most sustainable. Just like you mentioned Mr. President about the importance of doing that. Right. The physics are on our side and these things help unleash this innovation to actually realize that. So it's never been more exciting.

Very exciting indeed. Go ahead, please.

And I'm Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter. We're an American enrichment company trying to bring back the US lead in producing nuclear fuel. So just like car engines need to fuel a nuclear reactor, right now the US is completely dependent on other countries to make the key step of enrichment in this fuel. And these executive orders are going to pave the way for the US to regain its lead. So we really appreciate it.

Will you be doing the AI plans? Because we have a lot of them going up now and or soon going up and they need tremendous electricity. Are you going to be involved?

In many ways, yes.

Will a lot of them be using nuclear? Some are using oil and gas, Some are using different things. Things. But many of them will be. I think it just makes a lot of sense.

Nuclear is a perfect solution and that's where most of them are interested.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That'll be great.

It's going to be.

Yes. Okay. Will, please.

The first executive order we have for you relates to the issue that Secretary Hegseth was speaking to, which is the need for incredible amounts of power at defense installations and also in AI focused installations. What this executive order will do is speed up the approval and adoption process for specialized nuclear reactors at these sorts of sites. It also involves the Department of Energy making available the necessary fuel stock. It also creates a special envoy position and a strategy around nuclear technology export. The idea being that we can grow American industry on the back of foreign purchasers who are interested in this sort of technology as well.

I'm just thinking, as you say that I just said. What about auto pens? Could I use an auto pen? What did Biden do? Did he have an auto pen at the desk?

Nuclear power?

No, he didn't do it. He used nuclear power. You know, he didn't do events like this. I guess it's all right. Otherwise you walk into the other side of the room, have an auto pen set in, right? Here it is. It's phase one, very big phase, very important phase.

Sir. This next executive order is intended to reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. You heard a few of the people here speak about the complex regulatory processes that have really held the nuclear industry back. Before 1978, there were 133 reactors built in the United States. Since 1978, only two new commercial reactors have come online. That's because of over regulation. And the goal of this executive order is bringing that regulatory process into line with the actual needs of the industry and public safety, with an end goal of, quote, quadrupling the amount of nuclear power production in the next two and a half decades.

It's fantastic. It's exciting, right?

This next executive order relates to nuclear reactor testing.

Sir.

The degree of over regulation and governmental inaction in this space in particular has had the effect of the throttling development of new, highly modernized nuclear reactors that could really revolutionize the field of nuclear power generation. So this executive order, it orders a revised regulatory process to speed this whole process while preserving obviously core safety concerns. It also creates a new pilot program with an expectation that we will have three new experimental reactors online by July 4th next year.

Amazing.

Lastly sir, we have an executive order on reinvigorating the nuclear industrial base. There are a number of core issues here, including the issue with fuel feedstock that one of the speakers mentioned before. This executive order, among other actions, includes an invocation of the Defense Production act in order to spur a closer collaboration with private industry to ensure that we have the fuel supplies we need for a modernized nuclear energy sector. In addition to that, it includes crucial provisions relating to the development of a nuclear energy sector workforce and a number of other key building blocks to the overall nuclear industry that we're trying to spur here. We have one more for you here, sir. This doesn't directly relate to nuclear energy, but it's on a similar subject. This executive order is entitled Restoring Gold Standard Science. One of the issues that we've had in recent decades is that government policy has been made on the back of junk science. Scientific studies and findings that have included conflicts of interest or scientific misconduct. The purpose of this executive order is to recenter policymaking around gold standard science. Scientific efforts that have followed appropriate scientific methods that don't include those sorts of conflicts of interest and to ensure that when departments and agencies are relying on scientific studies to, to promulgate rules, to promulgate regulations that the science that they're relying on is highly reliable and available to the public.

He did a very good job.

He did.

How many people here could have done that? I don't know. I think a lot.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Is that it?

That's all we have for you now.

Do you have any questions for these brilliant people? They are brilliant people. Mr. President. On the nuclear, Sir, a lot of the concern over the years has helped the nuclear industry back to about safety.

Are you satisfied with those safety concerns?

Yeah, we are. It's become a very safe. Actually it's become very safe and tremendous work's been done on that more than anything else. And it's really the automatic shutoffs. There's so many different things that they have now that they would have never had. You know, my uncle was a great nuclear person years ago and that was a different. If you would have asked that question, probably it would have been a much different answer. But they have tremendous shut off power and other powers and very redundant as I understand it, at a level that nobody's ever seen before. So it's safe and we're going to do a lot of the small ones and we're going to do some of the big ones. But yeah, very safe. Safe and clean. Let's keep it on this for a little while. Let's keep it on the nuclear. And then if you want to ask something else, which you might, we'll do that on nuclear. Mr. President. Yeah, please. What do you say to folks who.

Are concerned speeding up licensing or even doing fuel reprocessing, racist safety and proliferation?

Yeah, we're going to get it very fast and we're going to get it very safe and we're going to get the people in and out and they're going to do plants. In many cases, they'll do three or four smaller ones and put them together. That's what France has done. France has done a good job of this for years. And they, as I understand it, they had basically one plan and if they needed more, they'd do three or four or five of them. I don't know we have to go that far. But you know, there's something about building one big one, but we'll build the big ones, too. We're going to have, I think we'll be, I would say we'll be second to none because we're starting very strong. But we, it's time, it's time for nuclear and we're going to do it very big. Yeah, please. Mr. President, what about the European Union? You said that negotiations are going nowhere. What, where are the kind of points they're moving? They, I've been saying to everybody, they've treated us very badly over the years. It was formed in order to hurt the United States, in order to take advantage of the United States and they've done that. We have a big deficit with them. They sell millions and millions of cars, as you know, Mercedes and BMW and Volkswagen and many others. And we, we were restricted from, essentially restricted from selling cars into the European Union, which is not nice. And I just said time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game. You know, nobody, they've taken advantage of other people representing this country and they're not going to do that any longer. Yeah.

Mr. President, you are a deal maker, deal breaker. What are you hoping to achieve with a 50% tariffs on people?

Well, I think this is, there is no tariff because what they'll do is they'll send their companies into the US and build their plant. You know, we have, I guess over $12 trillion practically committed. You look at other presidents, they haven't had a trillion dollars for a year, for two years, for three years. We have numbers. Nobody has ever seen numbers like we have. And if they build their plant here, then they have no tariff at all.

Are you looking for a deal in nine days? Will you be able to do that, sir?

I'm not looking for a deal. I mean, we've set the deal, it's at 50%. But again, there is no tariff if they build their plant here. Now, if somebody comes in and wants to build a plant here, I can talk to them about a little bit of a delay. But, you know, while they're building their plant, which is something I think that would be appropriate, maybe we'll determine that.

Is there anything the EU can do?

I don't know. We're going to see what happens. But right now it's going on on June 1st and that's the way it is. No, they haven't treated us properly. They haven't treated our country properly. They banded together to take advantage of us. And the people behind me know, because they had some of that with their industry. But generally, you know, we signed a great deal with United Kingdom. We have numerous other deals that are ready to be signed. We have. We've signed a deal with China. We have some really amazing deals. But the European Union, I mean, the sole purpose was really to not to hurt us, but to take advantage of us. And we're not going to be taking.

On Apple. You said this morning that if they don't make their iPhones in the US you're going to hit them with a 25% tariff. Do you have the power to tariff one single company? And why would you want to hurt an American company in that way?

It would be more. It would be also Samsung and anybody that makes that product. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair. So anybody that makes that product, and that'll start on, I guess at the end of June, it'll come out. I think we have that appropriately done by the end of June. So if they make that product now, again, when they build their plant here, there's no tariff, so they're going to be building plants here. But I had an understanding with Tim that he wouldn't be doing this. He said he's going to India to build plants. I said, that's okay to go to India, but you're not going to sell India without tariffs. And that's the way it is. Yeah.

What makes you confident, sir, that Apple.

Can build in the United States at.

A price that American consumers can?

Oh, they can. No, they can. A lot of it. A lot of it's so computerized now. These plants are amazing if you look at them, but they can do that. And you know, actually, as you know, Apple's coming in with $500 billion. So are the chip companies. We have all of the chip companies coming in. The biggest 500 billion, 200 billion, $250 billion they're spending. But we're talking about the iPhone now. And you know, the iPhone, if they're going to sell it in America, I want it to be built in the United States. They're able to do that.

When you say that Walmart should beat the cost of the tariffs, is that an acknowledgment that it is US Companies that bear the brunt of tariffs, not foreign?

Sometimes the country will eat it, sometimes Walmart will eat it, and sometimes it'll be something to pay, something extra. I've always been a fan and I've always believed. And if you look, take a look at what I did four years ago with the greatest economy, and we had no inflation. Remember that? We had no inflation, and yet we had hundreds of billions of dollars of tariffs that I put on China. Yet we had no inflation. We had no big cost differential oftentimes. And I don't like it when a department store, because they'll do a lot of business, but, you know, they announce record profits and everything else, they have to take out some of their profits or make a little bit less money. But I don't want, I don't want the consumer, I don't want the consumer to pay.

But why impose tariffs that, you know, are hurting American businesses?

They're not hurting. They're helping because they're creating jobs in America. We're creating tremendous amounts of jobs in America like you've never seen. We're having investment in America. We're not getting ripped off by every country in the world. We've been ripped off by every country in the world. They're making their product, they sell it. They don't give our people the jobs. They make them with other countries jobs. And we will have something that nobody will ever see again. I think, I think we have a potential to do numbers that we never envisioned in the wild this year. Look at, look at what's happening. 10 to $12 trillion in literally a couple of months. It's not. Nothing like that's ever happened. It's a very special, we're doing a very special thing we want if they're going to sell it here, generally speaking, not for all products. There's some products we don't want to make and frankly, we're much better off getting, getting them elsewhere. But for certain products, we Want cars. We want to make cars we don't want to have. And I like Canada very much, but we don't want to have Canada making our cars. We want to make our cars. Oh, it's a phone call. Do you mind? Hello? Okay. It's only a congressman. I'd let you know, actually, Mr. President.

Are you considering stopping other universities from taking foreign students?

It's a different congressman. They're all congratulating us. Yeah, it's lucky. It is. Okay, let's go.

Are you considering stopping other universities besides Harvard from accepting foreign students?

Well, we're taking a look at a lot of things. And as you know, billions of dollars has been paid to Harvard. How ridiculous is that? Billions. And they have $52 billion as an endowment. They have $52 billion. And this country is paying billions and billions of dollars and then gives student loans and they have to pay back the loans. So Harvard's going to have to change its ways. So are some others.

On that note, a lot of CEOs in the United States, big companies are for it. What is that going to do?

I'm fine with that. We want to, we want to do that. We're actually going to be doing something in the near future that's going to make it possible for people to come into this country and come in and, you know, have a road toward citizenship. And I think it'll be very exciting. But it's too soon to speak. I do, I do. But a lot of the people need remedial math. Did you see that? Where the students can't add two and two and they go to Harvard, they want remedial math and they're going to teach remedial math at Harvard. Now wait a minute. So why would they get in? How can somebody that can't add or has very basic skills, how do they get into Harvard? Why are they there? And then you see those same people picketing and screaming at the United States and screaming at, you know, they're anti Semitic or they're something. We don't want troublemakers here. But how do people that can't. When Harvard comes out with a statement that they're going to teach some of their students remedial math. That's basic math. That's not the deal. Okay, and any more questions in the back?

Are there other countries you're considering shortening the 90 day pause on tariffs for? And then are there specific steps you're.

Looking for the EU to take? Well, we have a lot of requests and, you know, you don't have the people to handle it. Frankly, everybody wants to make a deal. I'm sure now the European Union wants to make a deal very badly. But they just, they don't do it right. They don't go about it right. The other thing they do is they sue our companies all the time. You know, they have suits where their judges, I don't know if they're appointed by them but they're, they're definitely Europe centric and we're not going to, we're not going to stand for it. They won a $17 billion lawsuit for Apple and I read that case and that's not a case that should have been won. They're suing other of our companies. They use this as a weapon but they use it really to raise funds. Funds for what they do. It's almost like a fundraising mechanism. So we add that to the fact that they do the non monetary tariffs and lots of other trading you would call them trading barriers. They don't take our cars, they don't take our agriculture, they don't take anything. But we take their cars by the minions and therefore they have the jobs, they get the money and we get closed plants. Not going to happen that way anymore. Thank you very much everybody.

Thank you Press. Thank you Press.

Thank you. Thank you Press.

Thank you.

Thank you.