Catenaa, Saturday, February 07, 2026- Trump administration’s portfolio of equity stakes in US companies has surpassed wartime or economic crisis levels and may pose a risk to the corporations.

CNBC report said that the administration has taken stakes or has agreements to do so with at least 10 companies, most of which are publicly traded. The government announced its latest investment, USA Rare Earth, at the end of January.

Democrats have also considered taking stakes in US industries in the past. But the Trump administration’s approach carries risks both for the companies involved and for the broader markets in which they operate.

“It is an invisible barrier to startups and new market entrants,” Scott Lincicome, an international trade lawyer affiliated with the Cato Institute, told CNBC. “Why would you ever want to enter a market that you know your chief competitor is backed by the US government?”

Many of the investments are in smaller critical mineral companies, like USA Rare Earth and MP Materials, but they also include big industrial and tech companies such as US Steel and Intel.

The report said that top administration officials like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have argued that the US government is investing in strategic industries to reduce dependence on Taiwan in the case of semiconductors and China for critical minerals.

Historically, the US has taken equity stakes in companies in the context of bailouts with the understanding that the investments were temporary and the government would exit its position when the company was financially viable again, Peter Harrell, who served as the Senior Director for International Economics under President Joe Biden, told CNBC.

President Barack Obama, for example, took a stake in General Motors during the 2008 financial crisis, and President Franklin Roosevelt took stakes in the banking sector during the Great Depression.