President Donald Trump and his top economic adviser on Monday said the U.S. could take equity stakes in more companies following a deal with chipmaker Intel.
Trump on Friday said Intel agreed to give the U.S. government a 10% stake in its business as part of a deal connected to the Biden administration's CHIPS and Science Act.
"I PAID ZERO FOR INTEL, IT IS WORTH APPROXIMATELY 11 BILLION DOLLARS. All goes to the USA. Why are 'stupid' people unhappy with that? I will make deals like that for our Country all day long," Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.
"I will also help those companies that make such lucrative deals with the United States. … I love seeing their stock price go up, making the USA RICHER, AND RICHER. More jobs for America!!! Who would not want to make deals like that?"
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that the U.S. government could perhaps take equity stakes in more companies through an American sovereign wealth fund.
Governments throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East use such funds to make investments in companies and other financial assets, CNBC added.
"The bottom line is that because of the CHIPS Act, the U.S. government had decided to give a whole bunch of money to Intel, and President Trump and [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick … talked to Intel about the progress they were making and the hurdles they had to hop over in order to get the money, and I don't think they were particularly happy with that progress," Hassett told CNBC.
"So, in the end, they worked out a deal where Intel is going to get the CHIPS money but in exchange we're going to get some equity, and the equity is not voting, so there's not going to be government intrusion into the business of Intel. It's more like a down payment on a sovereign wealth fund, which many, many countries have."
Hassett was asked whether the Intel move was "the beginning of a larger effort by the U.S. government to take equity stakes in other industries that we subsidize or other companies in the AI and chips space that we subsidize?"
He added, "I think [Intel] is a very, very special circumstance because of the massive amount of CHIPS Act spending that was coming Intel's way. But the president has made it clear all the way back to the campaign that he thinks that in the end, it would be great if the U.S. could start to build up a sovereign wealth fund.
"So I'm sure that at some point there'll be more transactions, if not in this industry, in other industries."
The U.S. government previously took ownership stakes in private companies under extraordinary circumstances, such as during the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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