U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will sign an executive order this week aimed at promoting the regulation of artificial intelligence technology under "unified rules" nationwide.

The announcement comes as U.S. companies face an increasingly fragmented artificial intelligence regulatory environment at the state level.

"You can't expect a company to get approval from 50 states every time it wants to do something," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "That absolutely won't work!"

Specific details of the executive order remain unclear. The White House declined to comment further beyond Trump's post.

In an interview with CNBC on Monday, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the executive order "will really help AI companies understand what the rules of the game are."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (Republican) criticized the plan in a post on X, saying an executive order cannot preempt state legislative action.

"In theory, Congress could pass legislation to preempt state powers," he said. "But I doubt Congress has enough votes to pass such a bill because it is very unpopular with the public."

Industry groups lobbied Congress over the summer in an attempt to use the Big Beautiful Bill as a tool to preempt state AI laws, but failed. The effort sparked bipartisan backlash across states.

In recent weeks, the debate has heated up again and caused divisions among Republicans in Congress.

According to Politico, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said last week that Republican leadership had abandoned plans to insert language preempting state AI laws into the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, resisting pressure from the White House and tech industry groups.

"After again failing to persuade Congress to pass its extreme proposal to block state AI regulation, Big Tech turned to a politician it knows is willing to make deals: Donald Trump," U.S. Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said in a press release on Monday.

"Trump's plan to block state AI regulation through an executive order will be an early Christmas gift to his billionaire CEO friends," he said. The senator added that the move would be "irresponsible, shortsighted, and an attack on states' ability to protect their constituents."

An AI action plan released by the Trump administration in July called for measures such as eliminating "bureaucratic red tape" at both the federal and state levels that could stifle this emerging market.

According to Reuters, last month the White House shelved a draft executive order that would have directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to establish an AI litigation task force to challenge state AI laws, "on grounds including that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful."

Reuters also reported that the draft would have directed the Commerce Department to review state laws and, in some cases, issue guidelines to withhold broadband funding.