If President Donald Trump has a favorite color, it must be gold. The past few days alone reinforce the notion that he views gold as a symbol of prestige, wealth and power.
Trump secured a “golden share” of U.S. Steel that gives him and future presidents extraordinary influence over the company after its acquisition by a Japanese competitor. He touted the success of the “Trump Gold Card,” which offers residency and a path to U.S. citizenship to foreign nationals who pay $5 million. And he marked the 10th anniversary of his descent on a golden escalator to announce his first run for the presidency.
Gold, Trump seems to believe, is good.
Golden share
The “golden share” of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel appears to have sealed a long-planned deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to acquire the iconic American manufacturer.
Talks between U.S. Steel and Nippon began in December 2023, but the following year, former President Joe Biden blocked the deal on national security grounds. As a candidate in 2024, Trump also opposed the $14 billion transaction, saying it could lead to the loss of American jobs and manufacturing.
“I would block it. I think it’s a horrible thing,” Trump said in February 2024. “When Japan buys U.S. Steel, I would block it instantaneously. Absolutely.”
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President Donald Trump is launching “The Trump Card,” a gold card that may replace the EB-5 visa program for individuals who invest heavily in the United States.
However, his position changed after he won a second term in the White House, and his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, helped conclude negotiations during the weekend of June 13.
“The Golden Share held by the United States in U.S. Steel has powerful terms that directly benefit and protect America, Pennsylvania, the great steelworkers of U.S. Steel, and U.S. manufacturers that will have massively expanded access to domestically produced steel,” Lutnick wrote on X.
He said Trump and future presidents will have the power to block attempts to move the U.S. Steel headquarters out of Pittsburgh, drop the company’s name, transfer jobs or production outside the United States, or close plants “before certain time frames.” He did not specify those time frames.
The deal, Lutnick said, will “revitalize this strategic and iconic U.S. company and expand steel production in the United States.”
Golden or not, the United Steelworkers union is not enthused about the deal, saying it jeopardizes jobs in American steel mills.
“We’re disappointed that President Trump reversed course, jeopardizing the future of American steel making by allowing the merger… despite over a year of the president speaking forcefully against it,” the union’s president, David McCall, said in a statement to The New York Times.
Gold card
Last Thursday, June 11, the federal government began accepting applications for the “Trump gold card,” a special visa that grants foreign nationals residency status and a path to U.S. citizenship, for a substantial fee.
Those who pay $5 million will receive a gold-embossed credit card decorated with images of the Statue of Liberty, a bald eagle, and Trump.
The president said 15,000 people applied for the card within 24 hours.
“That’s $75 Billion Dollars to help balance our Budget, and strengthen America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The opportunity to live in the Greatest Country, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, with the largest Economy in the World is here. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
The gold card launched amid protests of Trump’s immigration policies, including workplace raids in Los Angeles and other major cities, intended to fulfill his pledge of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, who presumably cannot afford to pay $5 million to stay in the country.
Golden escalator
Ten years ago, on June 16, 2015, Trump’s ride on a gold escalator at his Trump Tower in New York left an indelible mark on American politics and culture. With Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” blasting from speakers, Trump and his wife, Melania, descended into a waiting crowd of reporters, photographers and fans, to whom he declared, “I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again.”
Trump boasted about his net worth, which he said was approaching $10 billion (more than twice the $4.5 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in 2016).
He promised to “build a great, great wall” on the Mexican border. “And I will have Mexico pay for that wall,” he said, “mark my word.”
Finally, he used the speech to launch what by now is a familiar criticism of undocumented immigrants.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said, according to a transcript prepared by The American Presidency Project.
“They’re not sending you,” he added, pointing to a member of the crowd. “They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Then, when the announcement was over, Trump got back on the gold escalator and rode off into history.