ZAP // Jeffrey Phelps / EPA (montagem)
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump hardly attacked “socialism”-but it has been comfortable using government power to reach the economy, diverging from the traditional free market approach to the Republican Party.
Since starting his second term as president of the US, Donald Trump It has surprised by its unexpectedly interventional positions in the US economy.
Tried to coerce the pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices through executive decree.
Publicly warned the Walmart not to increase prices in response to their tariffs, and sent the same message to the car manufacturers.
Its administration signaled that the Farmers could be rescued of any market damage caused by its pressure to redo the world commercial order.
And last week, Trump boasted what is equivalent to a nearnationalization of the steel industrysays the.
“We have a golden action, a golden participationthat I control, or that a president controls, ”said Trump about the ongoing sale of U.S. Steel to the Japanese Nippon Steel. “This gives you total control.”
Trump’s “golden participation” at US Steel, negotiated as part of a long-postponed sale, “extends forever”, at X the Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick.
This Golden Share Give Trump or your representative veto power To ensure that steel production reaches a certain level – and that US Steel’s jobs, which will soon become a Nippon subsidiary, are not transferred outside the US.
During his presidential campaign last year, Trump harshly criticized socialism, often classifying his political opponents as “Communists” and “Marxists”.
When the Democratic candidate and then vice president Kamala Harris He campaigned against price speculation on food products, Trump called him “Camarada Kamala“.
But as president, Trump has been very comfortable using his power to Obter specific economic resultsmoving away from the traditional approach of the Republican Party of No interference and free market.
Trump took public, sometimes aggressive measures to exert greater control over behavior and decisions of companies listed on the scholarship – In what Quartz calls “Trump’s fashion socialism“With the president setting aside Adam Smith’s invisible hand and putting himself in charge.
“Several Trump policies hang for central control instead of choosing market incentives, ”he says Erica Yorkeconomist at Tax Foundation, conservative NGO.
“Be the agreement with US Steel, the specific tariffs by country and industryor AS Exceptions in the Tax Code For certain industries and types of work, too much administration policies hang for greater degrees of government involvement in economic decision -making, ”notes York.
The US government last took a Golden Share in the federal rescue of General Motors after the 2008 financial crisis. Participation in US Steel aligns the US more with countries like China and Brazilwhich hold gold participation in valuable strategic industries.
“What they did was, in a very elaborate way, nationalize Us Steel“Says Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the Conservative American Action Forum Institute.“ And that It is not something that a genuine conservative would do. It is very similar to being A peronist from Argentina“.
“It’s just ‘The state is mhey’it is not? Trump is the state“, Says the economist Scott Lincicomethe vice president of the Cato Institute Libertarian Organization, referring to a statement attributed to the French king Louis XIV.
“He It is not a convinced progressive leftistBut there are certain things you like. There are certain things you want to control, ”adds Lincicome.
Broadly, the socialism involves the redistribution of wealthbe the Political decision makers to choose who wins and loses in the economy, and the government control the means of production instead of companies, among other principles.
In the US, as in many countries, elements of socialism already mix with capitalism, particularly in Social Security for the Elderly and in the collection of taxes to fund public roads and schools.
“I don’t think the final objective is socialism,” York said about Trump’s actions, “but Trump administration is no stranger to the use of governmental tools for intervene in the private market“.
Last month, Trump referred to the US economy as if it were a supermarket, in which he has the final word on prices. “We are a great warehouse, and We define the price“Trump told the magazine.“ I gather with companies, and then I define a fair price… ”
Trump presents itself as A CEO to manage everything directly In the name of the public: “I’m this giant and beautiful store, and everyone wants to go shopping. And, In the name of the American people, I own the store, and I define the pricesand say: if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay ”
The president did not hinder specific companies. He criticized harshly Walmart After his CEO, Doug McMillon, warned that tariffs could cause price increases in their products. A few days later, Trump published on social networks that the company should “Swallow“.
Also the Apple CEO, Tim Cookattracted the wrath of the president, who threatened to launch 25% rates on iPhones not produced in the USA.
There is however a Singularity in Trump’s fashion socialismsays Quartz: wealth is not properly distributed to the most disadvantaged, but “flow“.
A recent from Congressional Budget Office, the US Congress Bipartisan Commission, on a megaproject supported by Trump, estimates that the 10% of the richest American families would win 12.000 euros – while the poorest 10% would lose 1,600 euros.
“This is caviar instead of children“Says Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.“ And Sea-lago instead of the middle class.”
