Trump Targets America Inc. With New Brand of US Statecraft

He didn’t campaign on it. It wasn’t even broached during his first administration. He criticized his predecessor for it.

But this month President Donald Trump made clear that he’s willing to use the full force of the US government to directly intervene in corporate matters to achieve his economic and foreign policy goals.

Trump, backed by his team of Wall Street financiers, took the unprecedented step of seeking to collect a portion of money generated from sales of AI chips to China by Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. And in a move that could see the US ...