US Treasury terminates Anthropic AI products after Trump orders government-wide ban

Reviewed byNidhi Govil

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The US Treasury Department has ended all use of Anthropic's AI products, including Claude, following President Trump's directive to cease work with the startup. The Pentagon declared Anthropic a supply-chain risk after the company rejected demands for unconditional military use of its technology, marking an extraordinary federal action against a leading American AI firm.

US Treasury Acts on Trump's Government-Wide Ban

The US Treasury Department announced it is terminating use of Anthropic's AI products, including the Claude platform, following President Donald Trump's directive to cease all federal government work with the AI startup

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. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the decision in a post on X Monday, stating that "under President Trump no private company will ever dictate the terms of our national security"

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. The move represents one of the most aggressive federal actions against a major American AI company, forcing employees to rework projects that rely on Anthropic's models

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Source: Axios

Source: Axios

Federal Housing Finance Agency Joins Exodus

The Federal Housing Finance Agency also announced it is ending use of Anthropic products across its operations. William Pulte, the agency's director, confirmed that his department along with U.S. mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are terminating all use of Anthropic's technology

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. Last year, Claude was made broadly available across all three branches of the federal government under a General Services Administration OneGov agreement, though the Treasury Department did not specifically list Claude in its publicly available use case inventory

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. Employees have used Anthropic's Claude Code and other products across various departments.

Source: Reuters

Source: Reuters

Pentagon Declares Supply-Chain Risk Over Technology Guardrails

Trump on Friday directed the government to stop work with Anthropic, and the Pentagon said it would declare the startup a Pentagon supply-chain risk, dealing a major blow to the artificial intelligence lab after a showdown about technology guardrails

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. The dispute centers on Anthropic's rejection of the Pentagon's demands for unconditional military use of its Claude models. The company has vowed to sue over "intimidation" and insists that its technology should not be used for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens or deployed in fully autonomous weapons systems

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. The Pentagon argues it operates within the law, adding that contracted suppliers cannot set the terms on how their products are employed.

Six-Month Phase-Out and Presidential Warning

Trump announced a six-month phase-out period for the Defense Department and other agencies that use Anthropic's products

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. In a post on Truth Social, the president warned: "Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow"

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. These actions mark a significant government rebuke by the United States against one of the premier companies that have kept it in the lead on national-security-critical AI, threatening to give Anthropic a pariah status that Washington until now had reserved for enemy suppliers

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OpenAI Emerges as Alternative Amid Controversy

Late Friday, rival OpenAI announced its own deal to deploy technology in the Defense Department's classified network

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. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the Pentagon agreement with similar red lines to Anthropic, using "technical safeguards" that the Defense Department had agreed to

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. The situation has become a rare public dispute between a major tech firm and the U.S. government, raising fresh questions about whether other AI vendors will face similar scrutiny over their technology guardrails and willingness to accept government terms

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