President Donald Trump’s plan for government equity stakes in strategic industries doesn’t apply to major defense firms, a Boeing (BA) official said over the weekend, as reported by Reuters.
The government wants companies to invest in facilities, and larger ones are expected to be able to do this without government assistance, Steve Parker, CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said at the Reagan National Defense Forum.
He pointed to Boeing’s (BA) recent multi-billion dollar investment in St. Louis, Missouri, where the company manufactures fighter jets.
The plan for equity stakes “really only applies on the supply chain, particularly for the smaller companies coming through where that might be a way forward for them,” Parker said.
“I don’t think it really applies to the Primes,” he added, referring to leading defense contractors such as Boeing (BA), Lockheed Martin (LMT), RTX (RTX) and Northrop Grumman (NOC).
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in August said the Trump administration was “thinking about” taking equity stakes in major defense contractors.
The U.S. government has so far picked up minority stakes in Intel, Lithium Americas, MP Materials, and Trilogy Metals.