Some experts say his interventionist approach to the affairs of investor-owned corporations represents something new — at least in American government, though academics say it has echoes in approaches seen in China, post-war Europe and Singapore.
“In a U.S. context, it’s unprecedented in modern history,” said Ryan Bourne, a chair at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. While Trump was not shy about using his bully pulpit to harangue companies in his first term, Bourne said, carving out firm-specific deals that directly pay the government, calling for the ouster of specific CEOs and dictating how companies should set prices shows that Trump has escalated his willingness to intervene.
“It’s not so much free markets anymore,” Bourne said. “It’s fee markets.”
The stock market appears to be content, too. The broad S&P 500 index has continued setting records,…
