Establishing the United States Investment Accelerator
President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order establishing the United States Investment Accelerator within the Department of Commerce.
This office will streamline regulatory processes for investments exceeding $1 billion, aiming to attract significant domestic and foreign investment and stimulate economic growth.
The Accelerator will work with various agencies and state governments to reduce bureaucratic hurdles and foster collaborations with national labs.
The order emphasizes the need to modernize investment processes to improve the U.S. economic competitiveness.
Arguments For
Intended benefits: The order aims to significantly reduce regulatory burdens, thereby attracting substantial domestic and foreign investment and boosting the US economy. The creation of the Investment Accelerator seeks to expedite the investment process, making the US a more attractive place for businesses to invest and build.
Evidence cited: The order cites the US as the world's most powerful economy but notes impediments presented by slow, complex, and burdensome regulatory processes. It points to these processes as making investment harder than necessary and causing delays in construction.
Implementation methods: The establishment of the United States Investment Accelerator within the Department of Commerce is a key implementation method. This office will directly assist investors navigating regulatory processes and actively work to reduce those burdens.
Legal/historical basis: The order asserts the President's authority under the Constitution and laws of the United States to issue this order.
Arguments Against
Potential impacts: Concerns about potential undue influence on regulatory processes in favor of large corporations and the potential for bypassing existing environmental or other protections could arise.
Implementation challenges: Coordination across various federal, state, and local agencies will be complex. Ensuring the Investment Accelerator operates efficiently and effectively without creating new bottlenecks is a major challenge.
Alternative approaches: Alternative methods could focus on regulatory reform to streamline existing processes rather than creating a new intermediary office, addressing systemic issues that affect all investors, not just major ones.
Unintended effects: The order could lead to overlooking smaller businesses and the potential for overlooking national security concerns during the facilitation of investment.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
This is the opening statement establishing the legal basis and authority for the executive order.
It asserts the President's power under the Constitution and US law to enact the following directives.
Section 1. Purpose. The United States is the most powerful economy in the world, but slow, complex, and burdensome American regulatory processes at every stage of a company’s development and operation make significant domestic and foreign investment harder than necessary. Regulations hamper investment, permitting, and site selection, and numerous overlapping Federal, State, and local legal regimes with complex and often duplicative requirements significantly delay construction. It is in the interest of the American people that the Federal Government dramatically expand its assistance to companies seeking to invest and build in the United States.
This section explains the rationale behind the order.
It identifies the problem of slow and complex regulatory processes hindering investment and proposes increased federal assistance as a solution.
The section argues this approach serves the interests of the American people.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to modernize its processes to attract substantial domestic and foreign investment in the United States and to actively assist those building here for the benefit of our Nation’s economic prosperity to unleash investment from our small businesses to the largest companies.
This section outlines the US government's new policy objective: modernizing processes to attract investment.
It emphasizes actively assisting all levels of businesses, from small to large, to foster economic prosperity.
Sec. 3. The United States Investment Accelerator. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, shall establish within the Department of Commerce an office named the United States Investment Accelerator (Investment Accelerator). The Investment Accelerator shall facilitate and accelerate investments above $1 billion in the United States by assisting investors as they navigate United States Government regulatory processes efficiently, reduce regulatory burdens where consistent with applicable law, increase access to and use of our national resources where appropriate and consistent with applicable law, facilitate research collaborations with our national labs, and work with State governments in all 50 States to reduce regulatory barriers to, and increase, domestic and foreign investment in the United States. (b) The Investment Accelerator shall be headed by an Executive Director and staffed with legal, transactional, operational, and support staff as directed by the Secretary of Commerce. The Investment Accelerator shall be responsible for the CHIPS Program Office within the Department of Commerce, which shall focus on delivering the benefit of the bargain for taxpayers by negotiating much better deals than those of the previous administration. (c) The Investment Accelerator shall identify any existing mechanisms, exceptions, and opportunities in Federal law that can be used to assist foreign and domestic investors, consistent with the protection of national security.
This section details the establishment of the United States Investment Accelerator.
It outlines its responsibilities, including assisting investors, reducing regulatory burdens, and leveraging national resources to increase investment.
It clarifies that the Accelerator will be headed by an Executive Director and defines its role in managing the CHIPS Program Office. The section also mandates identification of existing legal mechanisms to assist investors while protecting national security.
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE, March 31, 2025.
This section contains general provisions clarifying the order's limitations and implementation details.
It ensures that existing legal authorities remain unaffected, it conditions implementation on available funding, and it states that the order doesn't grant any legally enforceable rights.