US President Donald Trump is considering renaming the US Department of Defense to “Department of War”.
“It’s called the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name. If you want to know the truth, maybe we’ll have information to share soon,” Trump stressed, recalling that during World War I and II, the department was called the “Department of War”, he told reporters. Trump noted that this is what he calls the Pentagon.
“According to "For me, it's the Department. Defense is related to that, but I have a feeling we're going to change it," the American leader stressed. Earlier, answering questions from journalists at the ceremony of signing a number of new executive orders at the White House, Trump also noted that he considered the name "Department of War" to be more sonorous. "We don't just want defense, we want offense," he said.
The US Department of War existed from 1789 to 1947, when it was transformed into a national military department. In 1949, it was renamed the US Department of Defense.
The US administration intends to continue acquiring stakes in large private companies, similar to what happened with Intel.
Trump announced this while answering questions from journalists at the beginning of a meeting with his South Korean counterpart colleague Lee Jae-myung in the White House.
He was asked to comment on the 10% Intel stock deal and his administration's policy toward large industrial companies. “And yes, there will be other cases. If I have the opportunity, I will do the same. And then, you know, there will be stupid people who will say, “Oh, that's a disgrace.“ It's not a disgrace. If someone is willing to give you 10% of the company and you don't pay for it, that's called business,“ he said.
“And I will tell you, for a company like Intel, as you know, they've had their share of problems. I want them to do well. I would like them to do well in any case, but right now I especially want them to do well,“ he added.
On August 23, Trump announced that the United States now owns a 10% stake in Intel. Trump noted, that he had agreed to this with the company's CEO Lip-Bu Tang (Chinese name - Chen Liu).
Trump has promised to raise tariffs and impose restrictions on the supply of American chips to countries that would impose digital taxes on American technology companies.
“As President of the United States, I will stand up to countries that target our incredible American technology companies. Digital taxes, digital services laws, and digital market regulations are designed to harm and discriminate against American technology“, he wrote on Truth Social.
This must “stop immediately”, Trump said. “With this publication, I am putting all countries that have digital taxes, laws, rules, or regulations on the table, that if these discriminatory measures are not removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose significant additional tariffs on their exports to the United States and will impose restrictions on the export of our highly secure technologies and chips for these countries“, the president said.
“Show respect for America and our incredible technology companies or face the consequences,“, he added.