White House’s Hassett says government likely to continue taking stakes in companies similar to Intel deal
White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett said on Monday that the government’s shares in Intel are part of a wider strategy to create a sovereign reserve fund that could include more companies.
On Friday, the White House announced that it received a 10% share of chewing giant in an agreement pointing to more attacks on private companies. The movement will be about $ 8.9 billion, some of them will be from the grant financing associated with the chips law, while the rest will be under separate government allocation for programs for making secure chips.
While the government emphasized that the government would not include itself in the company operations, Hassett said that the movement is part of an ongoing plan.
“Eh, I think this is a very special situation,” the National Economic Council Director Hassett said in an interview with CNBC on “Squawk Box”. “However, the president has returned to the campaign, and he thinks it would be great to start creating a dominant reserve fund.
In early February, Trump signed an order to launch a dominant reserve fund, a mechanism used by smaller countries with large natural resources used as financing for transactions. According to the Egemen’s Fund Institute, Norway leads the world with $ 1.8 trillion in such funds. The next China and multiple Middle East countries also have large funds.
Although the US government is unusual, although it is unhealthy, but not heard, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refers to stocks after the financial crisis.
“We are definitely not in the business of choosing winners and losers,” he said. “But that’s not something unseen.”
Hassett added that the movement is part of a larger strategy with tariffs to encourage more companies to land.
