Aug 11, 2025 8:22:45 AM America’s Unique Talent for Hurting Its Best Companies Mark Malek From Standard Oil to Microsoft to NVIDIA–how Washington keeps stepping on its own toes KEY TAKEAWAYS US has a long history of targeting its own corporate leaders through antitrust action and tariffs Tariffs originated as a primary revenue source for the U.S. Treasury until 1913, when income tax became official Modern tariffs are sold as protectionist but often hurt U.S. companies and shareholders NVIDIA and AMD now face a 15% fee to export AI chips to China Consumers and investors ultimately bear the cost of tariffs MY HOT TAKES The U.S. is uniquely aggressive in disadvantaging its own top companies Tariffs marketed as “protectionist” often act as hidden taxes The NVIDIA/AMD export fee is essentially an AI chip excise tax Tariffs almost always find their way into consumer prices or investor losses History proves revenue motivation is never far from the surface in tariff policy You can quote me: “We’ve upgraded from taxing imported saddles in the 1700s to taxing artificial intelligence in the 2020s.”
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