As the federal election season kicks into full swing, it’s easy to get lost in the spectacle of two polarizing candidates’ campaigns. Behind the savvily crafted memes and celebrity endorsements lies a catalog of strategies and convictions that have the potential to impact our everyday lives. Americans following tech issues can certainly recall the current administration’s recent actions on things like artificial intelligence (AI), antitrust, broadband, and much more. For insights into the policy vision of the newly nominated Republican ticket, they can examine the not-so-long-ago tenure of President Trump, the short and recent political history of U.S. Senator and Vice President nominee J.D. Vance, and the recently announced Republican platform, on which numerous sources claim Trump and his team heavily weighed in. What would a Trump-Vance administration mean for technology policy in America?

On AI, Trump understands the global stakes. He has expressed the desire to lead China and prioritize American innovation in this area. In 2019, he signed an executive order to prioritize the research and development of artificial intelligence (AI), saying, “This is not an option. This is a necessity.” The Republican National Committee (RNC) platform includes a plan to support  “AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.” A light touch regulatory approach towards AI will be the key to achieving these goals. Notably, Trump pledged to repeal the Biden Administration’s Executive Order (EO) on Artificial Intelligence. The EO establishes a sprawling network of regulations, red tape, and bureaucracy over the emerging technology, and its reversal would be a promising step towards ensuring U.S. leadership in AI.

To predict what Trump antitrust could look like, it’s helpful to look at his running mate’s outspoken endorsement of aggressive antitrust action. Earlier this year, Vance commended Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan as one of the few Biden administration appointees “doing a pretty good job” on antitrust enforcement, which has included rejecting the consumer welfare standard and engaging in hostile litigation towards large tech companies. Vance’s support of Khan’s FTC bodes ill for a Trump administration’s attitude towards a free market and competition between large companies. America is home to some of the most successful and pioneering tech companies in the world. Another term of Lina Khan’s aggression could threaten this and the very principles that the RNC’s America First Economic Agenda supports.

While previously critical of cryptocurrency, Trump has embraced the technology as of late, vowing to reduce regulations. If his headlining of the Bitcoin 2024 conference is any indication, a Trump administration promises to promote the dynamism that the cryptocurrency can bring to the energy sector and economy more broadly. Additionally, Vance has established himself as a friend of digital currency since his run for senate in 2022. Much like their approach to AI, the Trump-Vance ticket seems to favor deregulation and the rollback of Biden era policies for cryptocurrency. However, some of the ideas that Trump has proposed as part of his pro-crypto approach seem at odds with the freedom from government surveillance and control that makes crypto so attractive. For example, at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, he floated the idea of a national bitcoin stockpile, which would entail additional government intervention and control over the digital asset. The Wall Street Journal put it aptly, “If crypto currencies really are a libertarian vehicle to invest free from political vagaries, then they should trade on their own without government help…If Mr. Trump wants to strike a contrast with Kamala Harris, he might instead call for government getting out of the business of picking winners and losers—crypto and bitcoin included.”

While the policy roadmap of the Republican ticket is still being defined, both Trump and Vance have given clear signals of how they will approach technology and innovation in the United States. Though promising in areas such as AI and crypto, the enthusiasm for antitrust action and mentions of increased government involvement in Bitcoin raise concerns among those in the free market movement. In order to innovate, entrepreneurs need to feel as if they have the permission to excel and expand—not live in fear of overzealous bureaucrats. If the (potential) Trump 2024 administration wants to lead in AI and benefit from cryptocurrency, empowering consumers and encouraging competition is a far better path than increased red tape, intervention, and crackdowns.