| President Donald Trump is fashioning his own brand of statecraft by inserting the government in corporate affairs to achieve his goals. Within less than two weeks, the administration announced that Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay 15% of their revenue from Chinese AI chip sales to the US and confirmed the government was in discussions to take a stake in Intel. It was just the latest in a series of unprecedented maneuvers that has surprised Wall Street and Washington policy veterans, who privately and publicly acknowledged they’ve never seen anything like it. It’s the kind of home-run swings that if they’re successful could leave average 401(k) savings holders enriched while catapulting the US further ahead of China in some key national security areas. But its also a risky bet that could distort markets in unpredictable ways.  Trump with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the White House in April. Photographer: Ken Cedeno/UPI Trump during his first term focused largely on tariffs to shape his economic and national security agenda. He pulled trade levers that hadn’t been used in years if not decades, like Section 232 tariffs on sectors like steel and aluminum and Section 301 tariffs to target entire countries, like China. Back then, trade experts viewed Trump’s actions as pushing the legal boundaries. Now he’s pushing the legal boundaries again by involving the federal government directly in businesses. The firsts signs of Trump’s new approach came with the administration securing a “Golden Share” from Nippon Steel to allow them to complete their purchase of US Steel. That gives the president a personal veto on corporate decisions. A $400 million equity investment by the Pentagon in a little-known rare-earth miner has also raised eyebrows across Wall Street. But the potential of taking a direct equity stake in a company, specifically Intel, would be highly unusual — especially as it’s not amid any apparent crisis. (Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on CNBC that such a deal wouldn’t give the US governance or voting rights in the company.) It’s not a typical government approach in America’s free market economy. But various experts repeatedly told us it’s reminiscent of another system. “It’s state direction that we haven’t had in the US,” Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said, “it’s very much the Chinese model making its way into US government.” The administration argues that Trump is focusing on areas critical to national security. White House spokesman Kush Desai said in an emailed statement that “Trump’s hands-on leadership is paving the way towards a new Golden Age for America.” — Joe Deaux | 
