Trump says he is 'looking at' breaking up Wall Street banks

President Trump.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

President Trump said he is "looking at" breaking up giant Wall Street banks during an interview with Bloomberg News on Monday. "I'm looking at that right now," Trump said. "There's some people that want to go back to the old system, right? So we're going to look at that."

The "old system" Trump refers to is the 1933 Depression-era Glass-Steagall law that required a separation of consumer lending and investment banking. The Republican platform also backs restoring the law, which was repealed in 1999 under former President Bill Clinton.

See more

Trump's Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is a former banker for Goldman Sachs, has also called for a "21st century" Glass-Steagall.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"On the one hand, a revival of Glass-Steagall would fly in the face of Trump's push to accelerate the American economy by massively reducing regulation," writes CNN Money. "But Trump did bash big banks before the election, especially Goldman Sachs. Breaking up the banks would appeal to Trump's populist message of draining the swamp by uprooting the establishment."

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.