A NAZI move........

Lutnick says administration considering taking stakes in defense companies

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday the president should consider stakes in companies where the U.S. adds “fundamental value.”

By Nicole Markus

The Trump administration is “thinking” about taking an equity stake in defense and munitions companies, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

“There’s a monstrous discussion about defense,” he said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked if there’s a “line” on government ownership of private companies. “I mean, Lockheed Martin makes 97 percent of their revenue from the U.S. government. They are basically an arm of the U.S. government.”

His comments come after the White House reached an agreement with chipmaker Intel to take a 10 percent equity stake in the company in exchange for a $8.9 billion investment.

The investment came partially from grants awarded from the CHIPS Act, but not yet paid out. President Donald Trump has previously railed against the Biden-championed law, calling on Congress to “get rid” of it.

Lutnick said the key to considering where the U.S. should take equity stakes in companies is whether the country is adding “fundamental value” to the business in question.

“If we are adding fundamental value to your business, I think it’s fair for Donald Trump to think about the American people,” he said.

He did not elaborate further on the decision making process on possible stakes in defense companies, telling CNBC that he’s going to leave it to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior Pentagon officials: “These guys are on it and they’re thinking about it.”

The Commerce Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Lutnick’s statements.

Trump has faced some criticism in his pursuit of equity stakes from Republicans who say it violates free-market principles that pre-Trump conservatives have traditionally championed.

“Today it’s Intel, tomorrow it could be any industry a future Commerce Secretary decides to control,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a statement Thursday to POLITICO. “If conservatives endorse this now, they hand Democrats a blueprint to expand government ownership over the private sector later. Socialism is literally government control of the means of production.”