Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned Tuesday the Trump administration is “thinking about” taking stakes in protection contractors, probably replicating its divisive transfer to buy a part of chipmaker Intel.
“Why shouldn’t the U.S. government say, ‘You know what? We use Palantir services, we would like a piece of Palantir. We use Boeing services, we would like a piece of Boeing,’” CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin requested Lutnick on “Squawk Field.”
“There are a lot of businesses that do business with the U.S. government, that benefit by doing business with the U.S. government. Where, again, I guess the question is, where’s the line?” Sorkin continued.
“Oh, there is a monstrous dialogue about protection,” Lutnick replied. “I imply, Lockheed Martin makes 97 % of their income from the U.S. authorities. They’re mainly an arm of the U.S. authorities. They make beautiful munitions, I imply, superb issues that may knock a missile out of the air when it is coming in the direction of you.”
“But what’s the economics of that? I’m going to leave that to my secretary of Defense and the deputy secretary of Defense. These guys are on it, and they’re thinking about it,” he added.
Final Friday, President Trump mentioned Intel had agreed to promote the U.S. authorities a ten % stake within the tech large.
“They’ve agreed to do it, and I think it’s a great deal for them,” the president mentioned to reporters.
The president later mentioned on social media that it was his “Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future.”
“I negotiated this Deal with Lip-Bu Tan, the Highly Respected Chief Executive Officer of the Company,” Trump added.
Earlier this month, Trump had referred to as for the CEO to resign, earlier than they met for a “candid and constructive discussion” within the White Home.
In an announcement to The Hill on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin mentioned it’s “continuing our strong working relationship with President Trump and his Administration to strengthen our national defense.”
Some Republicans have expressed discomfort with the Intel deal and the overall concept of public possession in non-public corporations.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) referred to as it a “terrible idea.”
“If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn’t the government owning part of Intel be step toward socialism?” he posted on social media.
