Former UN ambassador and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley blasted the Trump administration’s decision to take a 10 percent stake in Intel, arguing it was the wrong approach and warning it could set a damaging precedent.
“Biden was wrong to subsidize the private sector with the Chips Act using our tax dollars. The counter to Biden is not to lean in and have government own part of Intel,” Haley wrote on X. “This will only lead to more government subsidies and less productivity. Intel will become a test case of what not to do.”
President Trump announced the agreement on Friday, boasting that the government had “paid nothing” for its shares in the company, which he said were now worth about $11 billion. He called it a win for both America and Intel, insisting that strengthening domestic semiconductor manufacturing is “fundamental to the future of our Nation.”
The deal marks a bold expansion of Trump’s industrial policy, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick framing it as a strategic move to reduce U.S. dependence on Taiwan, which currently produces nearly all of the world’s leading-edge microchips. Lutnick said it was critical to “make them here,” stressing the risks of relying on supply chains so close to China.
The move, however, has stirred backlash from both libertarian Republicans and progressive Democrats. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) slammed the deal as “a terrible idea” and a step toward socialism, while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) argued taxpayers should not bankroll wealthy corporations without guaranteed returns. Sanders insisted that if Intel profits from federal support, the American people deserve a share.
The controversy has also reignited broader debates about the role of government in private industry, with critics warning that the Intel deal could lock in a cycle of corporate dependency on subsidies. Haley’s rebuke reflects growing fractures within the GOP over Trump’s second-term economic agenda.
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