Economist Steve Moore warned on Fox Business Wednesday that adopting national industrial policy would saddle the United States with the same stagnant model that has hobbled Europe and Japan.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that defense contractors could be prime targets for future ownership stakes since the U.S. government is already a major customer. During an appearance on “The Bottom Line,” Moore said that talk of the federal government taking ownership of major firms would amount to a dangerous step toward corporate welfare. He compared America’s market-driven success with Europe’s decades of sluggish growth.

“What is being talked about here is this sort of idea of a national industrial policy. And that’s exactly what Europe has done for the last 30 years and Japan. And we’ve beaten the pants off those countries,” Moore told host Guy Benson. “Our stock market’s gone up 40-fold, and theirs’ have been basically stagnant. We don’t want to create a corporate welfare state in America, and it has failed in Japan and Europe, and we’ve really been the winner. So why would we adopt the policies of the losers?”

Benson pressed Moore on whether Lutnick had gone “over his skis” by suggesting the U.S. could pursue ownership stakes in defense contractors, Moore said that proposals for the federal government to take stakes in major U.S. companies would be a “fool’s errand.” (RELATED: ‘They’re Going To Turn Intel Into Amtrak’: Steve Moore Says Why ‘We Don’t Want Government Owning American Companies’)

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“I hope he [Lutnick] was over his skis because that’s a terrible idea. I mean, we’re going to have government take ownership of Boeing, and we’re going to take McDonnell Douglas and all the hundreds of companies that make up the military industrial complex. I think that’s a fool’s errand to go in that direction. So let’s hope not,” Moore said.

President Donald Trump moved Friday to secure a 10% stake in U.S. chipmaker Intel as part of a broader plan to shore up industries deemed critical to national security. The White House defended the move as essential for safeguarding supply chains, while critics warned it could distort markets and hand future administrations sweeping control over private companies.

As part of the deal, the federal government will turn $8.9 billion in Chips and Science Act grant funding into an equity stake in Intel, making it the company’s largest shareholder. Intel’s stock has fallen in 2024 as the firm struggles to compete globally.

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