The United States took a big step toward greater state ownership or control of the economy—a form of socialism—in 2025. This change is occurring under unified Republican domination of the US government, not under a Democratic administration and certainly not due to the political influence of Democratic Socialists, who currently occupy only a tiny handful of seats in Congress.
The United States has consistently ranked among the countries with the least state control of the economy for nearly two decades according to the V-Dem index (in which rank 1 = least state control; rank 179 = most). Since 2010, the United States had never ranked lower than 4th out of 179 covered countries, and often ranked 2nd, just behind Japan in 1st place (North Korea ranks 179th). In 2025, the first year of the second Trump administration, state control of the US economy grew, and 15 countries now have less state control than the United States, while 163 have more.
Moving from 2nd to 16th in a single year is a large change. Other countries in the index that change that much year-over-year tend to face either persistently volatile political economies or war-related crises, such as Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, or South Sudan, not large, advanced economies with several decades near the top of the rankings.
Most of the increase in state ownership and control has taken the form of equity stakes, rather than full nationalizations that would make for bigger headlines. Under the Trump administration, the United States has acquired a portfolio of equity or equity-like stakes in over 30 firms across the semiconductor, critical mineral, and quantum computing sectors, with the biggest single-ticket item being a 10 percent stake in Intel negotiated in 2025 that converted prior federal grants into US equity. Acquisitions of this nature are likely to continue, as evidenced by a recent preferred equity deal with Elmet Group, justified as securing tungsten supply chains and accelerating domestic manufacturing.
This PIIE Chart is adapted from Cullen Hendrix's blog "You're already getting socialism—and Democratic Socialists have nothing to do with it."
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