Trump is tightening the screws on corporate America -- and CEOs are staying mum

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

August 14, 2025 5:00 AM ET


Corporate America doesn't want to fight with President Trump in public. But as a result, it's ceding him an unprecedented amount of control over the shape — and future — of U.S. business.

In the past week, the president has turned up the heat on big companies and their CEOs to an extent that is unprecedented even by Trump's norms-shattering standards. He has publicly attacked companies and their executives throughout his political career — but now he's demanding firings of executives who aren't even household names, such as a corporate economist at Goldman Sachs.

On Monday, Trump announced an extraordinary deal for the U.S. government to take a 15% share of Nvidia's H20 chip sales in China as a condition for easing restrictions to allow the chip to be sold there. Then his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, on Wednesday said the administration may ask other companies for similar payments in the future.

"Trump has always used the bully pulpit of the presidency to try and direct business activity towards his desired ends — but in the second term, we've seen this taken to a whole new level," said Ryan Bourne, an economist at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/14/nx-s1-5501591/trump-corporate-america-capitalism

[hildegaard28]

1. So

Communism finally came to America, brought by a Republican of all people. I guess the reason why they screamed about Communism all those years was just to distract attention from the fact that they're the Communists.

[cstanleytech]

4. It's actually a tax that's passed on to the American people as the companies will hike prices to compensate.

[hildegaard28]

5. I was

Talking about him taking ownership shares in companies, not tariffs.

[cstanleytech]

12. Yes, I'm saying that the companies will offset anything that they "give" in the form of higher prices.

Thus it's actually a tax but a hidden one.

[mdbl]

13. Add that one to the growing list

[Libloom]

6. The WSJ funny enough is saying the same

https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-u-s-marches-toward-state-capitalism-with-american-characteristics-f75cafa8?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASWzDAgbTtnm8FvIZ7cjVDWU7CNL1-mOuinyLmGQKlE9hHblRSvi3CEnIqnOextqvCI%3D&gaa_ts=689e614b&gaa_sig=ZH8LStwB47rvXFIBYtioxE17raxNslm9fPGGypNeQu6XxzED53JVNszLEdePj1Q2UUTZAkmqgsoVgdFnQgKsXw%3D%3D

The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics

A generation ago conventional wisdom held that as China liberalized, its economy would come to resemble America’s. Instead, capitalism in America is starting to look like China.

Recent examples include President Trump’s demand that Intel’s chief executive resign; the 15% of certain chip sales to China that Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices will share with Washington; the “golden share” Washington will get in U.S. Steel as a condition of Nippon Steel’s takeover; and the $1.5 trillion of promised investment from trading partners Trump plans to personally direct.

[EarthFirst]

2. If past is prologue...

…there’s capitulation in the water.

[wiggs]

7. If past is prologue the GOP should start squawking about govt price control! fascism! socialism! communism! Except

that this time it is really happening

[twodogsbarking]

3. Trump's fire will go out of control. Then, look out. Charred remains.

[thesquanderer]

8. Remember when Republicans used to say we don't want the government picking winners and losers? (n/t)

[Mz Pip]

9. They're waiting Trump out

Large corporations believe they have the luxury of sitting back and waiting for this nightmare to go away. They figure they can suck up to Trump and hang in there for 3 more years.

[mdbl]

14. Well tell them I've been saying this for 10 years and it hasn't happened yet

[MadameButterfly]

16. Really? they think he's going away

in 3 years? They think they'll get their companies back?
And which CEO's will survive his purge?
I wonder if the tax breaks are worth the firing of their CEO's and the forfeiture of a percentage of their company?
I think big business is discovering they've created a Frankenstein.

Maybe this is how we get out of this mess. Imagine if big business turned against Trump.

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. "And which CEO's will survive his purge?"

Most of them.

They are richer than he is. They can wait him out using the same tactics that he uses.

The problem is what little will be left once he is gone. Waiting for him to leave is just not worth it, since it will only benefit the rich.

All by design. The rich know what is going on.

Which is why we need to stop waiting on their plan to happen.

[DBoon]

10. This is classic fascism

The state subsumes all of society, including private corporations.

[Septua]

11. Trump is not the deal maker "Master" he claims to be.

His "art" of making deals is nothing more than Vita Corleone "offers they can't refuse." His approach might not be illegal but it sure as hell isn't fair play or democratic governing.

I can deal with rising prices but don't really want to see other people suffer from his self-serving, insane economics. On the other hand, I believe it needs to happen to the degree that puts millions of people into the streets voicing their outrage and drops his "favorable" polls into single digits.

[mdbl]

15. I'm sure it's illegal. We just don't have an ethical justice system any longer.

[Septua]

17. On the topic of legality

I'm not questioning your opinion; I just can't comprehend the legaleeze.

https://www.cato.org/blog/nvidia-amds-deal-trump-administration-national-security-sale

It is, at best, questionable whether the reported agreement could withstand legal scrutiny. The text of Article I, Section 9 of the US Constitution—“No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State”—makes it clear that Congress cannot levy taxes on US exports. Thus, not only do the Trump administration’s actions appear to contravene the text of the Constitution, but they also raise a separation of powers issue, as it is the executive branch, not Congress, that is levying this tax.

That being said, it is unclear whether Nvidia and AMD are exporting their semiconductors from the United States. Both companies are “fabless” manufacturers, meaning that they design their chips but outsource their actual fabrication to TSMC. Though TSMC’s fabrication facility (“fab”) in Arizona has been operational since late 2024, reports suggest that it fabricates Nvidia and AMD chips other than the H20 and MI308, making it therefore likelier that both of these chips are fabricated in Taiwan. Were that indeed the case, and moreover were the chips to be exported to China from Taiwan (or any other foreign country, for that matter), the chips would be subject to the US government’s export controls under the Foreign Direct Product Rule, yet the case for a constitutional violation would seem weaker, as they are not “exported from any State.”

[mdbl]

19. Not to negate your response but the Cato Institute's mission is no laws or regulations

Last edited Fri Aug 15, 2025, 09:48 AM - Edit history (1)

[Septua]

20. It was the first link that caught my eye on a search.

NT