Trump says he no longer considers Anthropic a national security threat after G7 meeting with CEO

President Donald Trump said in a pre-recorded interview for Axios that he no longer considers Anthropic a national security threat, marking a major reversal from the administration’s aggressive stance on the AI ​​company over the past three months. Asked if he considered Anthropic a threat, Trump replied, “Well now. But last week, maybe.” He added that the company has “behave yourself very well.“

The comments come days after the Commerce Department issued an order on June 12 ordering Anthropic to seek approval from the US government before outsiders can access its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, the company’s AI-powered systems. That order followed months of escalating tensions between management and Anthropic over the company’s refusal to remove certain safety protections from its military-grade products. The order effectively triggered crisis-level talks between officials from the Department of Anthropic and Commerce last week.

Trump met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Wednesday at the G7 Summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, a meeting that appears to have changed the president’s mood. The meeting came after Anthropic’s technical staff held separate talks with Trump administration officials earlier in the week. Trump told Axios that he would consider easing the restrictions, saying, “I would like to, but I’m not sure I should,” when asked about a possible rollback.

The conflict began in March 2026, when the Pentagon designated Anthropic a procurement risk after the company refused to remove restrictions related to surveillance weapons and autonomous weapons from products used by the US military. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick then sent a letter threatening the company with criminal charges, a move that drew criticism from tech industry groups and prompted coalition governments, including the UK, to lobby for an exemption.

The timing of Trump’s conciliatory tone is important. Anthropic filed for a private initial public offering in early June, at a value that Fortune reported was about $965 billion. The continued restrictions of the organization created uncertainty about the listing, and any signal of decline from the White House could stop the confidence of investors ahead of the offering.

Trump described the situation as creating “a great crime“For the administration, admitting that the crackdown has caused a backlash from industries and unions. The president also said he would not close Anthropic, although he stopped short of committing to a specific timeline for issuing the Commerce Department’s order.

Change does not remove underlying tensions. The Pentagon-supply chain designation remains in effect, and the Commerce Department’s June 12 order has not been formally revoked. Anthropic has not publicly indicated whether it plans to adjust its surveillance policies to accommodate the military’s demands.

What has changed is the political signal from the top: Trump seems more willing to negotiate than to escalate.

Amodei has been working multiple channels to solve this problem. At the G7 summit, he and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis jointly pitched a US-led AI coalition to G7 leaders, positioning Anthropic as a partner in American technology diplomacy rather than a controlling adversary. This strategy appears to have given Amodei direct access to Trump during the president’s reception.

Whether warm words translate into policy remains an open question. The Department of Commerce operates with great autonomy in export control matters, and reversing an official order requires administrative measures that a single interview cannot cut. For Anthropic, the Axios interview is a political win, but legal and regulatory hurdles remain until management acts on them.