this Trump administration So, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said taxpayers should get at least half the share of the university that uses public support to invent products and security patents, thus creating shares in chipmaker Intel and Steel.
Mr. Lutnik told Axios Mike Allen that scientists get patents, universities get patents and $50 billion in funders – do you know what we get? zero. ”
Mr. Lutnik said that getting back the money would be business 101.
“If I gave them 100% of the money, I would get half the profit with the scientists,” he said. “I think if we fund it and they invented the patent, then the United States taxpayers would get half the profit.”
The plan is the latest chapter in Mr. Trump’s unusual approach to economic governance. He is reaching a deal that will allow Uncle Sam to own ownership in a private enterprise with government backing and gain some profit from the Treasury.
Intel, a sprawling but struggling chip maker, recently agreed to offer the U.S. government a 10% stake in the company in exchange for funding from President Joseph R. Biden’s 2022 law to support the U.S. semiconductor industry.
this Trump administration Researching university space. Lutnick sent a letter to Harvard last month asking for a list of patents developed using taxpayer funds. He wants to ensure that patents comply with intellectual property laws and benefit U.S. taxpayers.
He plans to send similar letters to the University of California and then expand the campaign to other universities.
Mr. Trump’s efforts to take government shares in private entities make some uncomfortable.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, opposes Mr. Trump’s violation of business.
“Once the government participates in the free market, there is no longer a fierce competition to breed excellence. It is a big mistake to own the government’s own thing or own a stake in a business,” Mr. Paul wrote on X.
In addition to Intel, Mr. Trump has arranged a “gold share” for the U.S. Steel’s government, part of the merger with Japan’s Japanese Steel. The Ministry of Defense also owns a stake in MP Materials, a material mine that is rare earth.
Additionally, Trump officials are debating whether U.S. taxpayers are leveraging appropriate economic benefits from defense contractors relying on federal contracts.
This approach is attracting attention, with some top investors likening it to socialism or China’s interweaving of its central communist government with the private sector.
In some ways, the university’s thinking is an extension of Mr. Trump’s efforts to review university diversity programs and other behaviors. He threatens to withhold funds from top schools, leading to negotiations and deals between universities and colleges administrative.
