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Trump administration has taken equity stakes in dozens of private companies

The Trump administration has signed dozens of deals taking ownership stakes in private firms, a shift analysts call unusual in scale. Coverage differs on emphasis: one piece maps the deals, the other asks how they fit Trump's rhetoric.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: NPR
Image: The National

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The story, neutrally told

The Trump administration has taken government equity stakes in more than three dozen private companies. The Council on Foreign Relations counts 39 deals worth $27.7 billion since January 2025, spread across agencies including the Commerce Department, the Pentagon and the Development Finance Corporation. A Cato Institute report counted 30 deals because it excluded DFC deals, citing a 2018 law that authorised the DFC to make equity investments.

The most prominent is Intel: in August 2025 the government announced a roughly 10 per cent stake for $8.9 billion, funded partly by $5.7 billion in unused Biden-era Chips Act grants. Many deals target minerals and metals to shore up domestic supply chains and loosen China's grip, including a $400 million Defence Department stake in MP Materials and stakes in Vulcan Elements, Trilogy Metals and Lithium Americas. Mr Trump has framed the agreements as vital to national security.

CFR's Jonathan Hillman said past stakes came during crises, such as the financial crisis, and questioned what the crisis is now. He said the number of deals is striking and that he thinks the country has seen only the beginning. Scott Lincicome of the libertarian Cato Institute calls the approach "transactional interventionism" and says it opens new policy doors for future administrations. White House spokesman Kush Desai said the president is implementing traditional free market policies such as deregulation and tax cuts.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Treats the stakes as one example of Trump's unorthodox economic interventions and a contradiction with his anti-communist rhetoric.
Emphasis
Political tension, expert commentary from Cato and CFR, and the White House response.
Leaves out or plays down
Gives little detail on individual deals, values or agencies.
Charged language
“transactional interventionism”
For example
“These big, unorthodox policy moves are certainly not communism, but they're also not typical Republican free-market capitalism.” — NPR

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Explanatory rundown of the portfolio, deal by deal, largely without political commentary.
Emphasis
Deal values, agencies, minerals and chips, and Gulf-linked partners such as Maaden, ADQ and Mubadala.
Leaves out or plays down
Includes no critical expert views or White House statement on the policy's merits or the free-market debate.
Charged language
“golden share”
For example
“The US is building a growing portfolio of investments in private companies” — The National

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.