United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says that the Trump administration is eyeing equity stakes with huge defence contractors, such as Lockheed Martin.
Lutnick spoke with CNBC and confirmed that there is a "monstrous discussion about defense” and that military leaders of the current administration are “thinking about” possible defence contractor stakes.
This comes just days after the White House acquired 10% of Intel stock, in a deal worth approximately US$9 billion.
During his interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Lutnick was questioned about whether the move would be repeated with other companies, notably major defence contractors, to which he said that Lockheed Martin was already “basically an arm of the U.S. government".
As for the specifics moving forward, he deferred to the staff of the relevant department.
“But what’s the economics of that? I’m going to leave that to my Secretary of Defense and the deputy secretary of Defense… these guys are on it and they’re thinking about it."
