• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jensen Huang says ‘a lot’ of six-figure jobs in plumbing and construction will soon be unlocked because someone needs to build new AI centers

2

Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar

3

The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line

1

Jensen Huang says ‘a lot’ of six-figure jobs in plumbing and construction will soon be unlocked because someone needs to build new AI centers

2

Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar

3

The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line
NewslettersDonald Trump

President Donald Trump is acting like the CEO of USA Inc. Is it the strategy America needs?

Alyson Shontell
By
Alyson Shontell
Alyson Shontell
Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer
Down Arrow Button Icon
Alyson Shontell
By
Alyson Shontell
Alyson Shontell
Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 24, 2026, 11:00 AM ET
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a meeting at the White House with oil and gas executives to discuss plans for investment in Venezuela on Jan. 9, 2026.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a meeting at the White House with oil and gas executives to discuss plans for investment in Venezuela on Jan. 9, 2026.Alex Wong—Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

This essay appeared in the Jan. 24, 2026 edition of the Fortune 500 Digest newsletter, which rounds up the headlines driving the week’s most important business news and coverage of Fortune 500 companies. Subscribe to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

What is it like to be a Fortune 500 CEO during the second Trump administration? I ask that question every time I meet with one in a closed-door setting, including a half-dozen CEOs I met this week in Davos, where Trump and his associates showed up in force.

Recommended Video

In five recent conversations, the answers have been remarkably similar: This president is pro-business, and that’s a refreshing change from the last administration. “It feels like he wants us to win,” one CEO remarked.

That was apparent in Davos, where the president gathered dozens of top CEOs after his address on Wednesday evening for a multi-hour dinner and power-networking session. And you can’t deny that America’s economy (in part due to the AI race) has been surging, with markets up and GDP growth blowing past expectations to hit 4.4% in Q3 of last year.

That doesn’t mean CEOs all like the president’s tactics or rhetoric (one executive told me he tells CEOs to pretend it’s a “silent movie”). But the overall strategy may prove correct—that the American government can benefit from more businesslike thinking and private-public partnership.

The United States is the capital of capitalism, with the world’s top innovators and yes, the most and wealthiest billionaires as a result. Meanwhile, we have a national debt that has ballooned, a devastating wealth divide, and a looming AI wave that threatens to wipe out lower-paid jobs first.

If you think of the U.S. as a business that needed a financial overhaul, what would a turnaround CEO do? They’d throw out the old playbook, size up the operation, ditch inefficiencies, place new bets, and move as fast as possible to right the ship, paying no mind to detractors.

The CEO-president is an experiment we are all witnessing firsthand, as Trump pushes boundaries, including legal ones; tests new revenue streams (tariffs); pushes for equity stakes in place of government subsidies; and drives his agenda aggressively forward in a move-fast, make-or-break-America approach, outcome TBD.

There’s also the question of where the line is between what’s good for America, what’s good for business, and what’s good for the president himself, with sometimes murky overlap.

We explored his approach and all those questions in our new issue of Fortune, with an analysis of how President Trump draws inspiration from his dealmaking background to tackle his job like he’s the CEO of USA Inc. Read the cover story here.

We also took a look inside one of the Trump family’s operations, Eric Trump’s new venture, American Bitcoin, as he seeks to become one of the world’s biggest miners and holders of Bitcoin—while separating his cryptocurrency agenda from his father’s. (Donald Trump “has no involvement in our crypto business,” Eric told Fortune. “This is a company that I run, and he does a great job running the United States of America.”)

You’ll also find a profile of Google’s AI mastermind Demis Hassabis (whom I interviewed in Davos for an upcoming episode of my vodcast, Fortune 500 Titans and Disruptors), as well as our 28th World’s Most Admired Companies ranking, where executives across the Fortune 500 vote for the peers they look up to.

Check out those features on our site, or subscribe to Fortune‘s print magazine and get the smartest curation of high-quality business journalism delivered to your mailbox.

A version of this article appears in the February/March 2026 issue of Fortune with the headline “President, or CEO of USA Inc.?”

Subscribe to receive Fortune 500 Digest in your inbox every Saturday morning.

About the Author
Alyson Shontell
By Alyson ShontellEditor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Alyson Shontell is the editor-in-chief and chief content officer at Fortune.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Newsletters

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Newsletters

What every founder can learn from Reformation’s $211 million IPO
NewslettersMPW Daily
What every founder can learn from Reformation’s $211 million IPO
By Emma HinchliffeJuly 31, 2026
1 day ago
Sports teams have gone from trophies to trillion-dollar investment targets
NewslettersTerm Sheet
Sports teams have gone from trophies to trillion-dollar investment targets
By Allie GarfinkleJuly 31, 2026
2 days ago
Apple CEO Tim Cook on June 08, 2026 in Cupertino, California. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
NewslettersFortune Tech
Tim Cook takes his final earnings call as Apple feels the supply pain
By Andrew NuscaJuly 31, 2026
2 days ago
Photo: Kevin Warsh
NewslettersMarkets
‘Mutiny, if need be’: At the Fed, ‘Warsh can suppress dissent only so much,’ over credibility-testing interest rate decision, Macquarie says
By Jim EdwardsJuly 31, 2026
2 days ago
A 103-year-old company says it has a plan to make AI data centers ‘water-neutral’
NewslettersCEO Daily
A 103-year-old company says it has a plan to make AI data centers ‘water-neutral’
By Diane BradyJuly 31, 2026
2 days ago
Dow COO Karen Carter wearing a white lab coat and sitting while smiling
NewslettersMPW Daily
Dow’s brand-new CEO is blessed to be stressed
By Emma HinchliffeJuly 30, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

Jensen Huang says ‘a lot’ of six-figure jobs in plumbing and construction will soon be unlocked because someone needs to build new AI centers
Success
Jensen Huang says ‘a lot’ of six-figure jobs in plumbing and construction will soon be unlocked because someone needs to build new AI centers
By Preston ForeAugust 1, 2026
14 hours ago
Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar
Personal Finance
Millennials say they’ll refuse to care for aging boomer parents—but they’ll be forced to as their inheritance shrinks to 40 cents on the dollar
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 31, 2026
2 days ago
The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line
Retail
The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 31, 2026
2 days ago
Jensen Huang says this is the greatest time in history to start a business—and his advice is to stop overthinking it: 'How hard can it be?’
Success
Jensen Huang says this is the greatest time in history to start a business—and his advice is to stop overthinking it: 'How hard can it be?’
By Preston ForeJuly 31, 2026
2 days ago
'Retiring backwards': How cold economic reality forced Gen X into something like the reverse of baby boomers' golden years
Success
'Retiring backwards': How cold economic reality forced Gen X into something like the reverse of baby boomers' golden years
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 31, 2026
1 day ago
Polar bears roll in beds of ice cubes at Prague Zoo as Europe battles record heat
Environment
Polar bears roll in beds of ice cubes at Prague Zoo as Europe battles record heat
By The Associated PressJuly 30, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.