Lutnick says Anthropic has patched US government ties
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Anthropic has patched its strained relationship with the Trump administration, signaling a thaw after months of security clashes. Speaking to Bloomberg Television at a G20 tech event in North Carolina, Lutnick called the feud a “kerfuffle” but said the AI firm has “gotten religion.”
Key Takeaways
- Lutnick told Bloomberg that Anthropic has repaired ties with the U.S. government after a public clash over security.
- A federal judge in California ruled in late August that the Pentagon’s supply-chain risk blacklist of Anthropic was illegal.
- The dispute began after talks over military use of Claude broke down on autonomous weapons and mass surveillance limits.
- Anthropic’s separate D.C. case is still pending, so legal uncertainty has not fully cleared.
What did Lutnick say about Anthropic?
According to Bloomberg, Lutnick said Anthropic PBC has patched its relationship with the Trump administration. The comments point to a possible end to months of sharp differences over security between Washington and the Claude maker.
“We had a good kerfuffle, it was out there,” Lutnick said in the Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the Group of 20 tech gathering. “But they’ve gotten religion.”
The remarks land days after Anthropic scored a major courtroom win against the Pentagon’s blacklisting campaign, raising the stakes for how—and whether—federal work with the company resumes.
Why was Anthropic blacklisted by the Pentagon?
In March, the Department of Defense designated Anthropic a supply chain risk after negotiations over how the military could use Claude collapsed. Anthropic sought assurances that its models would not power fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance. The Pentagon sought broader access for all lawful purposes.
Anthropic became the first American company publicly named a supply chain risk. That label barred defense contractors from using its technology in agency work. The company sued in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., seeking to unwind the designation.
What did the judge decide—and what is still open?
On Aug. 27, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin ruled the blacklist illegal. She found the Defense Department violated the First Amendment by branding Anthropic a supply chain risk “based on a desire to make a public example” of the firm, not on an articulable national-security basis, CNBC reported.
Lin wrote that neither the Constitution nor the federal statute the government invoked allows sweeping penalties based mainly on Anthropic’s critique of administration AI views. An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed the ruling and said the company remains focused on working productively with the government on national security uses of AI.
CNBC noted the D.C. litigation is still ongoing, and until that case is resolved Anthropic still technically remains a supply chain risk. Lutnick’s warmer tone does not by itself settle those court tracks—but it marks a clear political shift after the “kerfuffle.”
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