by Spencer Kimball at CNBC
Key Points
– President Donald Trump is personally wielding a golden share over U.S. Steel.
– The Pentagon bought a $400 million equity stake in rare-earth miner MP Materials.
– These stakes could serve as models for more intervention by the Trump administration in industry.
The Trump administration has taken direct stakes in companies on a scale rarely seen in the U.S. outside wartime or economic crisis, pushing a Republican Party that traditionally championed free-market capitalism to embrace state intervention in industries viewed as important for national security.
Japan’s Nippon Steel agreed to give President Donald Trump a “golden share” in U.S. Steel as a condition for the two companies’ controversial merger. Trump now personally wields sweeping veto power over major business decisions made by the nation’s third-largest steel producer.
The president’s golden share in U.S. Steel is similar to nationalizing a company but without any of the benefits that a company normally receives, such as direct investment by the government, said Sarah Bauerle Danzman, an expert on foreign investment and national security at the Atlantic Council, a think tank focused on international affairs.
But the Trump administration demonstrated earlier this month that it is also…
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