State capitalism. MAGA Marxism. Crony capitalism. Those are just some of the terms business and political commentators have used this year to describe how President Donald Trump's policies are reshaping U.S. free-market capitalism.
Why it matters: There are some differences in definition — but all of these terms underline how dramatically Trump has blurred the boundaries between business and government, to an extent that could have long-term consequencesfor the U.S. economy and the country's global standing.
Tech industry: Some of President Trump's policies, including his sweeping tariffs and his changes to immigration policies for highly-skilled foreign workers, have complicated the business of Big Tech. But most tech CEOs have tried to avoid criticizing those policies publicly, and instead focused on donating to Trump's personal projects.
Read on... for more on the impact of the Trump administration's policies.
Those are just some of the terms business and political commentators have used this year to describe how President Donald Trump's policies are reshaping U.S. free-market capitalism. There are some differences in definition — but all of these terms underline how dramatically Trump has blurred the boundaries between business and government, to an extent that could have long-term consequencesfor the U.S. economy and the country's global standing.
"When the American government appears to favor a company over rival companies, that distorts the marketplace," says Ann Lipton, a veteran business law expert and professor at University of Colorado's law school.
"It means that other firms have less incentive to compete on innovation, which is sort of the opposite of how a free market is supposed to operate," she adds. "It's just bad for the economy."
There's ample evidence this year of Trump actively favoring some U.S. companies and investors, while threatening others. In August, he publicly called for the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan — until Tan came to the White House to meet with him, and agreed to give the U.S. government a 10% stake in the tech company.
Several other tech CEOs also spent the year appearing to personally court Trump. Take Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who runs the world's most valuable company and is among the donors funding Trump's controversial plans to build a White House ballroom. This month, Trump said the U.S. would grant Nvidia permission to sell one of its more advanced semiconductor chips in China — as long as the U.S. government gets a 25% cut of sales.
Lipton calls this capitalism by "schmoozing," and warns that it could seriously damage the competitiveness of U.S. businesses,thus hurting the overall economy in the long term.
"We're not going to get the best innovations. We're not going to get the best products," she says. "If [businesses] are competing on their ability to schmooze, then that's bad for everybody."
Intel did not respond to an NPR request for comment. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Nvidia said, "In our discussions, President Trump focuses on his desire for America to win as a nation and his efforts to protect national security, American prosperity and technology leadership."
China-style 'state capitalism'
Business leaders have always spent some amount of time trying to cozy up to the White House, no matter its occupant. But Lipton and business insiders across the political spectrum say that Trump's direct influence over private companies this year — and the degree to which some of those companies and their leaders have sought to appeal to him personally — is pushing the U.S. economy away from free-market or "rules-based" capitalism.
This system, traditionally embraced by both businesses and Republicans, has helped make the United States into the dominant global economy.
But now, these business insiders say, Trump's policies are creating a government-controlled style of "state capitalism," in which the government — rather than competition between private businesses — shapes the economy. Some go so far as to call it "crony capitalism," meaning that the U.S. government picks winners and losers based on the president's personal relationships.
"We are seeing a shift away from the type of rules-based capitalism that has made America's economy so robust for so long. And there's a lot of risk in that," says Daniella Ballou-Aares, who co-founded the consulting firm Dalberg and served in President Obama's State Department. She now runs the Leadership Now Project, a coalition of business leaders that has endorsed candidates from both political parties.
In October, her group and The Harris Poll surveyed business leaders across the political spectrum — and found that 84% are worried "about the current political and legal climate's impact on their companies."
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang listens as President Trump speaks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in November in Washington, D.C. Nvidia has spent the year seeking the U.S. government's approval to sell more of its semiconductor chips in China.
(
Win McNamee
/
Getty Images North America
)
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says "this narrative about how [President Trump] reshaped capitalism is significantly overstated" and calls Trump's policies by and large "the traditional free-market policy-making that you would expect coming out of a Republican Administration."
The official dismissed claims that the White House is engaging in "crony capitalism," and says "there are companies that are benefiting [from Trump's policies] whether or not they have a good relationship with the administration."
The official also notes that so far, the U.S. government has largely sought to take ownership stakes or revenue-sharing deals from companies that play a role in economic and national security: For example, Intel and Nvidia both sell the semiconductors at the center of the artificial-intelligence arms race with China. The U.S. government has also taken stakes or other interests in U.S. Steel and MP Materials, a rare-earth minerals mining company, among others.
"What we're trying to do is very much embracing the free market and the growth that it unleashes, but making targeted interventions where there's too much on the line," the official says.
Tech winners vs. everyone else in corporate America
Businesses largely welcomed President Trump's victory in last year's election, in part due to frustration with what they perceived as a harsh and "anti-business" regulatory climate under President Biden.
And some seem pretty happy with his first year in office — especially the tech billionaires whose "Magnificent Seven" companies are powering the A.I. boom.
"The Magnificent Seven and Trump 2.0 are really on the same page to a large extent," says Daniel Kinderman, a political science professor at the University of Delaware who studies what he calls "authoritarian capitalism" and business responses to right-wing movements.
Some of President Trump's policies, including his sweeping tariffs and his changes to immigration policies for highly-skilled foreign workers, have complicated the business of Big Tech. But most tech CEOs have tried to avoid criticizing those policies publicly, and instead focused on donating to Trump's personal projects. Apple's Tim Cook, for example, this summer presented Trump with a gold-plated and glass plaque as his company promised to invest $600 billion in the United States.
Such gifts appear to have helped: Apple's iPhones have escaped the worst of Trump's tariffs.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Kinderman points out that for wealthy and powerful CEOs, Trump's degree of personal involvement in their businesses at least makes it efficient to deal directly with him — if they can keep him happy — instead of wading through the slow and complicated red tape of federal regulatory processes.
"These companies are a huge portion of the American economy," he says. "And I think Trump is also giving them, to a large extent, what they want."
In August, Apple CEO Tim Cook presented President Trump with a gold-plated and glass plaque, as his company pledged to invest a total of $600 billion in the United States.
(
Brendan Smialowski
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Still, he and others warn that, taken to the extreme, codependent relationships between political leaders and CEOs don't always end well for the latter.
In more authoritarian countries, where leaders exert much more control over private businesses, the stakes can be especially fraught. Russia, Hungary, and China all exercise some form of state-controlled capitalism, where an autocratic leader cultivates relationships with oligarchic business CEOs — and can quickly force them out of favor.
As one extreme example, Ballou-Aares invokes Jack Ma, the Alibaba founder who built one of China's biggest tech companies before criticizing the country's financial regulations … and then largely disappearing from public view for several years.
"We know that crony capitalism never really ends well for most companies," she says. "I mean, tell Jack Ma that autocracy is okay for business."
'Most CEOs are pretty frustrated'
Outside of Big Tech, many businesses feel a lot more conflicted about how President Trump is reshaping U.S. capitalism. Some have even filed lawsuits against the administration, over its tariffs and its immigration policies.
"Despite the handful of tech titans that do seem to admittedly genuflect at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago, most CEOs are pretty frustrated with what's happening," says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor who regularly speaks with CEOs.
Pockets of frustration from corporate America have become more visible recently. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the administration over its plans to start charging $100,000 for H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign workers — although it did so while praising Trump's "ambitious agenda."
And JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, who runs the country's largest bank and is one of the most prominent non-tech CEOs in the country, recently told CNN why his company had declined to donate to Trump's White House ballroom.
"Since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful about how anything is perceived," Dimon said. "We're quite conscious of risks we bear by doing anything that looks like buying favors or anything like that."
That said, most businesses are reluctant to publicly criticize President Trump or his policies. Smaller companies lack the power to effectively stand up to the White House. And even those running the country's biggest companies are unwilling to draw the personal attacks that Trump can often wield, or the ensuing partisan boycotts and financial damage that can follow.
Earlier this month, demolition work continued where the East Wing once stood at the White House. President Trump ordered the East Wing and Jacqueline Kennedy Garden leveled to make way for a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom that he says will be paid for with private donations from companies including Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google.
(
Chip Somodevilla
/
Getty Images North America
)
Many businesses have neither the appetite nor the capacity to take on the U.S. government. They just want to focus on making money, even if that means adapting to dramatic tariffs or other sharp shifts in government policy.
"It's tactical fire-fighting," says Drew DeLong, who advises businesses around the world as head of corporate statecraft for the consulting company Kearney, and who served in the State Department during Trump's first administration.
"Every moment and every hour you spend on tariff mitigation is one less hour that you spend on innovation," he says. "There is an urgency towards fire-fighting as best as they possibly can, but there's also a fatigue."
'Merger review has been weaponized'
The Trump Administration's approach to approving — or not — corporate mergers has drawn some of the highest scrutiny, because of the nexus of political and business issues at stake.
"Merger review has been weaponized into a tool for control," says Elizabeth Wilkins, the former chief of staff to Lina Khan, who oversaw U.S. merger review as chair of President Biden's Federal Trade Commission.
"With those kinds of tools hanging over corporate leaders' heads, we have seen an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear — which breeds silence," adds Wilkins, who now runs the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank.
The exception is, again, for leaders who cultivate close ties with the president. This year, the White House helped broker a deal for a coalition of U.S. investors to buy the U.S. operations of TikTok — and asked for an unusual multibillion-dollar payment to the federal government, which business experts have compared to a "shakedown" or "extortion." Some of those same investors, including Trump ally Larry Ellison and his son, David, are now seeking even more media deals.
Some business experts say now that corporate America has a better idea of President Trump's playbook in this administration, they expect to see companies and their executives feel more confident about how and when to push back against White House policies that they think will damage their businesses and the wider economy.
"I think it is clear that the administration's approach here is broadly unpopular, including with business," says Ballou-Aares.
But Kearney's DeLong, the veteran of Trump's first administration, warns businesses to brace for much more policy change, and uncertainty about what capitalism and the economy will look like in the future.
"This is just year one," he says. "Where do we go [during] the rest of this administration? Where do we go after?"
Copyright 2025 NPR
O.C. Japan Fest, corgi beach day, the grunions are back, a new play festival, a talk with Sen. Cory Booker and more of the best things to do this weekend.
Highlights:
Experience sakura season without leaving the area at the O.C. Japan Fair, featuring 250 vendors, craftspeople, food booths, art activities and more, all celebrating Japanese culture.
Check out readings of five new plays – all for free! – at the Play L.A. New Works Festival, put on by Stage Raw and the Greenway Arts Alliance along with a number of L.A. indie theater powerhouses.
Spend Friday night with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, whose new book, Stand, tells stories from his political life that aim to share “actionable insights” to help preserve democracy in these challenging times.
I hope you had luck in securing the first round of LA28 Olympics tickets — and that you’re not still waiting for page refreshes this morning! We’ve got all the info on how to get your tickets and why you shouldn’t fret if it doesn’t work out on this first try.
LAist’s Mariana Dale went to Hollywood High School this week to see how students and teachers felt about Mitski bringing a concert to the historic space. Seems like no one was missing class since perfect attendance meant a shot at tickets.
No matter your music taste, there’s a show for you this weekend. It may not be the height of summer yet, but things will be heating up at the Hollywood Bowl as Ben Platt and Rachel Zegler reunite for their concert performance of Broadway hit The Last Five Years. Plus, Licorice Pizza recommends Mercury Prize-winning London rapper Dave at the Palladium, St. Paul & the Broken Bones are at the Belasco, Calum Scott plays the Wiltern, and there’s a really cool First Fridays night at the Natural History Museum with dub legend Adrian Sherwood. Saturday has pop trio LANY at the Intuit Dome, Lamb of God slaughtering the YouTube Theater, SoundCloud rapper Rich Amiri at the Fonda, post-hardcore band Hail the Sun at the Wiltern, pop sensation Nessa Barrett at the Masonic Lodge, and another rising pop star, Alexander Stewart, at Chinatown’s cool new venue, Pacific Electric.
Experience sakura season without leaving the area at the O.C. Japan Fair, featuring 250 vendors, craftspeople, food booths, art activities and more, all celebrating Japanese culture. From sake tastings to sushi-making workshops to musical performances and kimono try-ons, the annual event is one of the largest Japanese cultural fairs in California.
Play L.A. New Works Festival
April 3-4 Greenway Court Theatre 544 North Fairfax Ave., Mid-City COST: FREE, MORE INFO
(
PLAY LA Festival
)
Check out readings of five new plays — all for free! — at the Play L.A. New Works Festival, put on by Stage Raw and the Greenway Arts Alliance, along with a number of L.A. indie theater powerhouses. This year’s plays are Stonewall’s Bouncer by Louisa Hill, produced by The Victory Theatre; At Olduvai Gorge by India Kotis, produced by The Odyssey Theatre Company; Ghost Play by Mathew Scott Montgomery, produced by InHouse Theatre; The Incident by Rachel Borders, produced by The Road Theatre Ensemble; and Three Dates by Erica Wachs, produced by IAMA Theatre Company. Go see one, or go see them all!
SoCal Corgi Beach Day
Saturday, April 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 21351 California 1, Huntington Beach COST: FREE; MORE INFO
(
Vlad D
/
Unsplash
)
Head to Huntington Beach for the cutest event of the year, the annual SoCal Corgi Beach Day. This year’s theme is "Tiki Beach Pawty," because of course it is. Honor Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite pets and spend the day at the beach with these short, stout, snuggly friends while they frolic and compete in events like — I am not making this up – Corgi Limbo.
Plaza Mexico Celebrates Easter
Sunday, April 5, 12:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. 3100 E. Imperial Highway, Lynwood COST: FREE; MORE INFO
(
Plaza México
)
You have your pick of Easter Bunny photo ops and egg hunts around town, and Plaza Mexico would be a great one with the family. Meet and take a picture with the Easter bunny, enjoy kids' arts & crafts, family activities, vendors and sweet treats.
Writers Bloc: Cory Booker
Friday, April 3, 7:30 p.m. John Adams Middle School (JAMS) Performing Arts Center 2425 16th St., Santa Monica COST: $33; MORE INFO
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 05: Senator Cory Booker attends PBS' "Black & Jewish America: An Interwoven History" Screening With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. And Conversation With Sen. Cory Booker at 92NY on February 05, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
(
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
/
Getty Images North America
)
Spend Friday night with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, whose new book, Stand, tells stories from his political life that aim to share "actionable insights" to help preserve democracy in these challenging times. The conversation with Writers Bloc will be hosted by Sean Bailey, the former head of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production for 14 years and the current CEO of the new multi-platform production company B5 Studios. The event is sold out, but there is a waitlist available.
Behind the Canvas — An Exclusive Art Talk with the Jurors of A Woman's Place: Framing the Future
Saturday, April 4, 11 a.m. Ebell of Los Angeles 741 S. Lucerne Blvd., Mid-Wilshire COST: FREE; MORE INFO
(
The Ebell
)
Have coffee and doughnuts with the curators of the Ebell’s Women’s History Month exhibit, "A Woman’s Place: Framing the Future." You can catch the show before it closes and see work from women artists exploring new interpretations of womanhood, feminism and art.
Grunion Run
Saturday, April 4, starting at 10:30 p.m. Venice Breakwater Ocean Front Walk, Venice COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Thousands of grunions on the shore.
(
Courtesy of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
)
I have lived in Venice for more than 20 years and never actually seen a grunion, despite efforts, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to see all your neighbors scouring the beach by moonlight on a Saturday night. The Venice Oceanarium folks always organize an educational tent with lessons on how these unique fish show up on our shores to reproduce, and maybe you’ll luck out and time it right this year.
She’s Auspicious
Saturday, April 4, 7 p.m. Broad Stage 1310 11th St., Santa Monica COST: FROM $40; MORE INFO
L.A. native Mythili Prakash takes the Tamil dance form Bharatanatyam to new heights as a choreographer and performer. Her short dance film Mollika, commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage in London, was nominated for a 2025 National Dance Award for Best Short Dance Film. She’s Auspicious, her latest production, "blurs the line between goddess and woman, exploring the dichotomy between celebration of the goddess versus the treatment of women in society." It was nominated for an Olivier Award in the category Best New Dance Performance in the U.K., and lucky for us, is on for one performance only at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.
Julia Barajas
explores how college students achieve their goals, whether they’re fresh out of high school, pursuing graduate work or looking to join the labor force through alternative pathways.
Published April 2, 2026 5:00 AM
Cal State Long Beach is one of the 23 CSU campuses where Teamsters-represented workers held a strike last month.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
LAist
)
Topline:
The California Public Employment Relations Board (has issued a formal complaint against California State University trustees over the system’s alleged refusal to give raises to trades workers. The complaint follows a statewide strike earlier this year, in which workers at every campus walked off the job.
Why it matters: Teamsters Local 2010 represents 1,100 plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, locksmiths and other building maintenance staff who work across the CSU system. A formal complaint from the Public Employment Relations Board means the two parties must resolve the dispute in a formal hearing process.
The backstory: According to Teamsters Local 2010, union members won wage increases in 2024 “after nearly three decades of stagnation.” That year, the union was on the verge of striking alongside the system's faculty, but it reached a last-minute deal with the CSU. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the system, arguing that the CSU refused to honor contractually obligated raises and step increases for its members.
What the CSU says: The CSU maintains that conditions described in its collective bargaining agreement with the union — which “tied certain salary increases to the receipt of new, unallocated, ongoing state budget funding” — were not met.
What’s next: In an emailed statement, spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said the CSU welcomes “the opportunity to present the facts of this case before an administrative law judge.” After the formal hearing, the state board will propose a resolution to the dispute.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Wind moves palm trees on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Stanton.
(
Mel Melcon
/
Los Angeles Times
)
QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Mostly cloudy then sunny
Beaches: mid to upper 60s
Mountains: mid 60s to around 70 degrees
Inland: 64 to 71 degrees
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory
What to expect: A mostly sunny afternoon with temperatures sticking to the low to mid 70s for most of Southern California. Breezy conditions will pick up in the afternoon for some valleys and mountain communities.
Read on ... for more details.
QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Mostly cloudy then sunny
Beaches: mid to upper 60s
Mountains: mid 60s to around 70 degrees
Inland: 64 to 71 degrees
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory
The cool weather continues for one more day in Southern California. Later this evening, strong winds will kick in for some mountains and highway corridors ahead of a Santa Ana wind event slated for Friday.
Temperatures at the beaches are going to stick around the mid to upper 60s, and around 70 degrees more inland.
Coachella Valley, San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains will continue to see gusty winds until tonight.
At noon, the Antelope Valley will be under a wind advisory, with winds expected to reach 20 to 30 mph, and some gusts up to 50 mph. Wind advisories will also kick in for the 5 Freeway corridor, Ventura County mountains and the Santa Susana mountains, where gusts could reach 45 mph.
Libby Rainey
has been tracking how L.A. is prepping for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Published April 2, 2026 5:00 AM
The official Olympic flag returns to Los Angeles for the first time in 40 years.
(
Dania Maxwell
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
One or two line overview of the story, should be sharp and to the point. If it's the only thing they read it should still give them good info.
{ERASE ME — some possible lead ins, please change/add/delete what makes sense for story}
Why it matters:
Why now:
The backstory:
What's next:
Go deeper: {if you have stories you want to link add them here}
A key agreement outlining what city services Los Angeles will provide for the 2028 Olympic Games and how the cash-strapped city will be reimbursed for its extra work is now six months late.
High-stakes talks over that agreement between the city and the private Olympics organizing committee LA28 have dragged far past an Oct. 1 deadline, sparking concern from city officials and observers that taxpayer dollars could be on the line.
City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who audits and scrutinizes city finances, called the delay "deeply troubling."
"The City needs a guarantee from LA28 that they will not go over budget and will pay for all of the additional security, sanitation, transportation, administrative, and any other costs associated with the Games," Mejia said in a statement to LAist. "The preparation and execution of these events should not come at any cost to Los Angeles taxpayers."
The 2028 Olympics are intended to be privately financed, and an existing city agreement with LA28 states that the Olympics organizers, not L.A., will pay for extra costs for public services in support of the Games – like policing and traffic control.
But the nuts and bolts of that arrangement have not been finalized, and if the agreement leaves L.A. exposed to unexpected or additional expenses, taxpayers could end up paying many millions.
Hosting the Games is already an enormous financial risk for Los Angeles. The city is the financial backstop for the Olympic Games, meaning if the organizing committee runs into the red, L.A. will pick up the bill, along with the state of California.
The extra staff and resources the city will dedicate to the Games represents another area where L.A. may end up with surprise costs.
Why is the agreement delayed?
Neither the city nor LA28 have shared publicly what's holding up the deal.
Past public meetings and comments indicate that the two sides may disagree over the scope of LA28's obligation to cover city expenses.
At a December city council meeting, the city administrative officer and council members discussed the boundaries of where LA28's responsibility for a service like traffic control ends and the city's responsibility begins.
The city's Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, who is leading negotiations with LA28 along with the City Administrative Officer, told LAist in an email Wednesday that the city is still discussing the terms for things like cost estimates, service levels, and timelines for repayment.
"We continue to work diligently with LA28 to finalize the agreement," Tso wrote. "I do not have an anticipated completion date at this time."
Jacie Prieto Lopez, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for LA28, said in a statement provided to LAist that the organizing committee was working with city leadership to finalize the agreement.
"We remain engaged in good faith negotiations and look forward to our continued partnership with the City of Los Angeles," she said.
Once the agreement is completed, it will be submitted to the city council and mayor.
LA is counting on federal funding
LA28 isn't the only entity expected to pay L.A. for Olympics-related costs. The city also is banking on money from the federal government, which has allocated $1 billion for security costs.
The city administrative officer told the council last year that city spending on security at the Olympic venues, like for local police, should be covered by those funds.
