On March 10, just hours after Anthropic sued the Pentagon on Monday, the White House further escalated the confrontation: it is preparing an executive order to officially instruct the federal government to completely remove Anthropic's AI systems, with the order expected to be signed as early as this week. This move elevates the dispute from the Pentagon's procurement level to the level of a presidential executive order. Trump previously stated that his administration would not use "woke AI." The Treasury Department, Department of Health and Human Services, and the State Department have already begun phasing out Claude. White House officials said "any policy announcement will come directly from" the president, and discussions about the executive order "are speculative."

During his first term, Trump issued executive orders targeting foreign tech companies such as Huawei and TikTok, but even for Huawei, the executive order did not directly name the company; the formal ban was enacted through congressional legislation. There is almost no precedent for using an executive order to specifically remove an American company outside of the standard procurement process.

On the same day, more than 30 OpenAI and Google DeepMind employees submitted an amicus brief to the court in support of Anthropic as individuals, including Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean. The brief stated that the Pentagon's supply chain risk determination is "an improper and arbitrary use of power with serious consequences for our industry," which will "undoubtedly affect America's industrial and scientific competitiveness in AI and broader fields," and "suppress open discussion in our field about the risks and benefits of AI systems." The brief pointed out that if the Pentagon is dissatisfied with contract terms, it can fully terminate the contract and purchase services from other companies instead of blacklisting Anthropic, and affirmed that the two red lines proposed by Anthropic (not used for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens, not used for autonomous lethal weapons) are legitimate concerns that need full protection. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly stated that "the supply chain risk determination against Anthropic is very detrimental to our industry and country," and "this is an extremely dangerous precedent, and I hope they handle it differently." OpenAI has announced contracts with the Pentagon after Anthropic was banned.