First, he imposed a golden share, a special share granting the government veto power over certain strategic decisions, to control Pittsburgh-based US Steel after its purchase by Nippon Steel. Then, he acquired a 15% stake in California rare earths operator MP Materials. Finally, President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell on Friday, August 22, by announcing the United States federal government was taking a 10% stake in microprocessor giant Intel.

Above all, the US president made it clear he planned to continue intervening in American companies across the board. "I hope I'm going to have many more cases like it," the Republican president said on Monday, August 25. "All [the money] goes to the United States. Why are stupid people unhappy with that? I will make deals like that for our country all day long."

His next target could be the defense industry, according to comments from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Asked how far the president would go during an interview on CNBC on Tuesday, August 26, the former Wall Street financier, somewhat taken aback, swiftly retorted: "There's a monstrous discussion about defense. I mean, Lockheed Martin makes 97% of their revenue from the US government. They are basically an arm of the US government. They make exquisite munitions. (...) 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."

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