Despite some outside activity, Trump hasn’t moved to advance ‘freedom cities’

During his presidential campaign in 2023, Donald Trump proposed creating what he termed as 10 deregulated "freedom cities" — areas of federal land where businesses can focus on technological innovation and potential homeowners can find "a new opportunity" to achieve the "American Dream."

Freedom cities, which are a type of master-planned community, could involve building a residential community on undeveloped federal land. As a candidate, Trump said he would arrange a "national contest" to "award these charters to the best ideas and proposals for development." 

Trump has shared few details about the concept. No freedom city has made tangible progress towards construction, although groups focused on this issue have begun drafting legislation to push the idea forward, the publication WIRED reported in March.

The Frontier Foundation, a policy group focused on "freedom cities," said in a statement to PolitiFact that this a priority in the White House and a "bipartisan priority within Congress."

"Discussions are happening," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Drafts are circulating. This promise will be fulfilled."

Technology investors promoted establishing a "freedom city" in Greenland, if the U.S. acquired it, Reuters reported in April. 

Despite such discussion, any efforts to make freedom cities a reality are in their early stages. There is no current legislation mentioning "freedom cities," according to searches of Congress.gov, Congress's legislative tracking system. In previous congresses, legislation addressing federal land and energy development has been introduced in 2022 and 2023, but none of these bills passed the House.

And Trump hasn't lent any rhetorical weight to the idea recently. 

Searches of FactBase, an archive of all of Trump's public remarks, show that Trump has not mentioned "freedom cities" since 2023, when he first made the promise as a candidate. Google searches also uncovered no mention of freedom cities by Trump or the White House since he began his second term.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether any advancements have been made to create "freedom cities."

It's possible that the preliminary work undertaken by outside groups will eventually be reflected in tangible developments such as legislation or an executive order; if that happens, we'll revise our analysis. But for now, this promise earns a rating of Stalled.