Trump is rewriting the rules of the economy. … Is it ‘crony capitalism’?
episodePreviously titled “Trump is rewriting the rules of the economy…is it ‘crony capitalism’?” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
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How is Trump influencing the economy through government intervention?
President Trump has taken a pretty unusual hands-on approach to the economy, using billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to purchase shares in private companies like Intel for the U.S. government.
I said, you know what you should do if you're smart? Give the United States of America 10% of your company. And he looked at me and he said... I'll do that.
The U.S. government also has positions in a handful of other companies, many involved in minerals and energy. President Trump has publicly pressured CEOs and forced the restructuring of social media giants like TikTok. Members of the administration argue that these moves are essential for national security. We've got to have the infrastructure to help our national security and our economic security. And that's what Donald Trump is bringing to America. But critics... like California Governor Gavin Newsom, call it, quote, crony capitalism.
This notion of crony capitalism, I don't like it. It's corruption. People that can afford to make a phone call, afford to get an exemption on a tariff, afford to get something no one else can get, afford to even get in the door. I've never seen open corruption like this in my life.
Consider this. What is the boundary between business and presidential power? And how is the Trump administration rewriting those rules? From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Consider This from NPR. President Trump has spent his first year back in office rewriting the rules of American capitalism. But what will that mean for the future of our economy and of our government? Well, those are the questions that NPR financial correspondent Maria Aspin set out to answer.
Intel is one of America's original tech startups. Remember this sound from its Intel Inside commercials? Founded back in 1968, Intel made some of the first computer chips that have become so crucial to today's tech boom. By the start of this century, its chips had made the tech company into a giant of American capitalism. But last year, Intel became something very different, a symbol of how much President Trump is taking control of private companies. In August, Trump publicly threatened Intel CEO Lipu Tan... calling for his resignation over his ties to China. Then Tan went to the White House to meet with Trump.
I said, you know what? I think the United States should be given 10% of Intel.
What role do CEOs play in Trump's economic strategies?
And now the United States owns a chunk of Intel and several other companies. It's also seeking more control over today's tech darling, NVIDIA. Trump wants NVIDIA to pay the U.S. a 25% cut of some sales in China, as a condition of allowing it to sell some computer chips there. Trump often makes these deals with CEOs who have gone out of their way to court him, sometimes donating to his personal projects. Like NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong, who's among the tech billionaires and companies funding Trump's controversial White House ballroom. Here's Wong in April at a White House press conference.
And so I want to thank you, sir, for everything that you've done and the strong encouragement and the great policies that make it possible for us. Thank you, sir.
CEOs have always tried to court the White House, whoever its occupant. But for the U.S. government, which almost never takes a direct stake in U.S. companies, this is a huge break from tradition. Now business experts across the political spectrum are worried that the United States is starting to look more like China.
What are the implications of crony capitalism in the U.S.?
If companies aren't competing on their ability to innovate and develop better products, if they're competing on their ability to schmooze, then, I mean, that's bad for everybody.
Anne Lipton has been working in corporate law for decades. She's a professor at the University of Colorado's law school. She says that when the government picks winners and losers, companies have less incentive to compete with each other. That leads to less innovation and less spending and less job creation, which can all hurt the economy. This has long been the conventional wisdom in Washington and on Wall Street.
If you believe that the free market is the best way of generating resources and innovations and everything, then this just sort of messes with that.
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