Like a college alum who can’t stay away from their old stomping grounds, President Trump has been hitting up the private sector. The White House is considering buying part of Intel, Bloomberg reported this week, which would be the latest big business deal the president pursues on behalf of the government.

Talks are still early, but the Trump administration might nab a stake in the struggling chipmaker using some CHIPS Act funding—nearly $11 billion of which was already earmarked for Intel. It’s not clear if the White House wants a stake in Intel in return for its existing disbursement or if it would offer the company more money.

Chip race stakes: “We don’t want government to intervene and own private enterprise, but this is national security,” one supportive tech analyst, Gil Luria, told CNBC, in reference to Uncle Sam’s clamber to be a global AI leader.

But even before the Intel play, this week, the Washington Post called Trump the “would-be CEO of America.” And the Wall Street Journal’s chief economics commentator, Greg Ip, went harder, writing that “capitalism in America is starting to look like China.”

This summer has brought several unprecedented moves:

• Trump lifted the China export block on chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices earlier this week in exchange for 15% of their China revenues.
• The Defense Department is set to become the largest shareholder of MP Materials, a rare-earths producer, in a $400 million deal announced last month.
• The White House also greenlit Japan-based Nippon Steel’s takeover of US Steel in June in exchange for a so-called “golden share” that can sway the US subsidiary’s decisions.

An un-Republican pattern: Economists widely say that Trump is ditching his party’s hands-off economic stance to make “the most aggressive federal incursion into the US economy” since the 2009 auto bailout, according to the New York Times.—ML

Trump says meeting with Putin in Alaska “productive,” but provided no specifics. The meeting between the US and Russian presidents lasted about three hours and ended abruptly, with both leaders making statements to the press but taking no questions. In Russian, Putin said, “I would like to hope that the understanding we have reached will allow us to get closer to that goal and open the way to peace in Ukraine.” Trump said, “We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to, there are just a very few that are left. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.” Afterward, Trump gave an exclusive interview to Sean Hannity on Fox News, where he said, “Now, it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done.” Zelensky was not invited to this meeting, but Trump said he would be briefing the Ukrainian president and NATO leaders on what transpired.—HVL

Americans shopped hard in July, but it may not last. US retail sales gained more than expected last month (+0.5%) and June’s figures were revised higher, showing that Americans were feeling plenty flush to spend on a broad range of goods this summer. Amazon’s four-day Prime Day sale surely helped, too. But other data released yesterday suggested more penny-pinching ahead: US consumer sentiment fell in August after climbing every month since May, and expectations for inflation jumped. Nearly 60% of Americans plan on curbing spending this year, the most recent University of Michigan survey found.—NF

DC’s police chief is back in charge. Less than a day after US Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an order that stripped the Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith of her authority in Washington, DC, the Trump administration rescinded it. The reversal followed an emergency hearing yesterday in federal court for a lawsuit filed by DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, which challenged Bondi’s appointment of Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Terry Cole as the city’s emergency police chief. After the hearing, the Department of Justice filed a new order making Cole Bondi’s “designee.” While Smith can resume control of the day-to-day operations of the department, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser still must fulfill policing requests from the Trump administration.—HVL

Air Canada’s planes are grounded harder than a kid who spilled maple syrup all over the airport carpet. Canada’s flag carrier was forced to cancel all its passenger flights amid the busy summer travel season, as 10,000 of its flight attendants walked off the job this morning.

The paralyzing work stoppage came after the union representing the folks who run the show in the skies and the airline failed to land an agreement over pay. It will affect 130,000 passengers per day and could cost Air Canada around $217 million daily, per TD Cowen Analyst Tom Fitzgerald. A financial hit is also in store for tourist-dependent destinations in Canada and the US, with the latter already struggling with a decline in visitors from north of the border.

Sticking points

Flight attendants are asking for wage increases and to be paid for time spent boarding and waiting for flights—not just hours spent in motion, which is widespread in the industry:

• The airline offered workers a 25% bump in total compensation for the first year and 38% over four years, as well as pay for some time spent on the ground.
• The union says the proposal still puts starting pay below the full-time federal minimum wage.

Air Canada asked the government to appoint an arbitrator who would make binding decisions, but the union has urged Canada’s Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu to allow collective bargaining to continue.

For stranded travelers…the airline is offering refunds or allowing rebooking for a different date without a change fee.—SK