Trump trade adviser Navarro says administration may force data center builders like Meta to 'internalize' costs

Trump trade adviser Navarro says administration may force data center builders like Meta to 'internalize' costs

Published Sun, Feb 15 2026

2:39 PM EST

Key Points

• President Donald Trump's trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro said on Sunday that the White House may force data center builders to absorb utility costs.
• Data centers powering artificial intelligence are straining the U.S. electricity grid and raising consumers' electric and water bills.
• The potential move comes as Trump's handling of the economy continues to sink in the polls, as voters grow concerned about "affordability."

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White House trade advisor Peter Navarro speaks to members of the media near the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 21, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

President Donald Trump's trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro said on Sunday that the White House may force data center builders to absorb their costs as voters continue to sour on the economy and utility prices soar.

"All of these data center builders, Meta on down, need to pay for all, all of the costs," Navarro said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "They need to pay, not only pay for the electricity that they're using on the grid, but they have to pay for the resiliency that they're affecting as well. They need to pay for the water. So there's activity, action here going forward, where we force them to internalize the cost."

Navarro did not detail what the White House's plan to force data center builders to internalize costs would look like. CNBC has reached out to the White House for clarification.

Meta did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

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Data centers and their drag on utilities are part of the affordability problem. Electricity prices spiked 6.9% year over year in 2025 and show little sign of easing. Navarro sought to pin the blame for soaring costs on former President Joe Biden, who left office over a year ago.

"I just want to assure people that we're on it, we also feel your pain," Navarro said. "We understand the ravages that inflation took on you because of Joe Biden's irresponsibility, but we are addressing that with economic policy that ultimately will make wages rise faster than the inflation rate, and that's the key to affordability."

But Americans increasingly blame the Trump administration for rising costs. As the November 2026 midterms approach, polls consistently find Trump underwater on the economy. Democrats are pounding Trump and the Republicans on affordability, arguing that everyday goods and services have grown too expensive. Democrats have taken a 5.2 point lead in the generic ballot ahead of the November midterm elections that could loosen Trump's grip on Washington, according to polling averages from RealClearPolitics.

While Navarro sought to blame the former president's administration for Americans' struggle with affordability, Trump himself has said he's "very proud" of the state of the economy. In an interview with "NBC Nightly News" that aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday, the president was asked, "At what point are we in the Trump economy?"

"I'd say we're there now," he replied.

The Trump administration has recently taken steps to address the strain on data center electricity and rising utility costs.

Several states and the White House signed a pact in January urging the nation's largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to make big technology companies pay for new power plants on the system. PJM operates the grid in some of the most data center-heavy areas in the U.S., including northern Virginia and New Jersey.

Democratic Govs. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey both romped to victories in their states in 2025 after campaigning to lower electricity costs.

The pact called for $15 billion in new generation capacity within PJM, to be financed by tech companies, and urged the operator to hold an emergency auction to procure the power. The move comes as the administration simultaneously fights offshore wind projects in the Northeast, some of which are fully permitted or under construction.

"Perhaps no region in America is more at risk than in PJM," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said after the announcement. "That's why President Trump asked governors across the Mid-Atlantic to come together and call upon PJM to allow America to build big reliable power plants again."

POLITICO last week reported on a draft compact that the White House wants tech companies to sign to ensure data centers don't affect consumers' utility bills.

Trump said last month on Truth Social that he had struck a deal with Microsoft "to ensure that Americans don't 'pick up the tab' for their POWER consumption, in the form of paying higher Utility bills." The president added that his administration was negotiating with other tech giants and that there would be "More to come soon!"

Microsoft pledged last month not to raise utility costs near its data centers, and to replenish water used by the centers.

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