This article is part of our special section on the DealBook Summit that included business and policy leaders from around the world.

“Is this the new normal?”

I was sitting across from Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, on the main stage of the 2025 DealBook Summit last week when I popped that question.

I wasn’t asking about market volatility or artificial intelligence hype cycles. Rather, I was asking whether we have quietly crossed into an era in which virtually every strategically important decision — on trade, technology, energy, even entertainment — now routes through one address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and, more precisely, through the instincts of one man. The context was the machinations around the potential takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. But as the day played out, it was clear we could have been discussing almost any major business decision.

“Andrew, there is no new normal,” Mr. Bessent insisted, batting away the suggestion.

But what clearly unfolded across nearly a dozen conversations with leading business and political leaders is that the United States is operating in a very different environment — a new economic order in which the federal government is no longer just a referee, a regulator, or even a customer. It is now the senior partner, the lead investor and the ultimate arbiter.

In this new paradigm, private ambition doesn’t just intersect with public policy; it bends to it. The Summit’s conversations didn’t merely touch on this shift — they embodied it, as C.E.O.s and leaders from Detroit to Silicon Valley to Jerusalem demonstrated how their visions increasingly hinge on alignment with the administration.

In a conversation with Larry Fink of BlackRock and Brian Armstrong of Coinbase, it became clear that the development of the crypto industry will be heavily reliant on the White House’s support. “Tokenization is inevitable” Mr. Fink said, suggesting it is “the next generation for markets” — but only with the permission of the administration.

Mr. Armstrong added that “2025, we’ll look back at this as when crypto went from gray market to a well-lit establishment.” But part of his argument is for Congress to pass a second piece of crypto legislation, the CLARITY Act, which would make it harder for future regulators to crack down on the industry.

The General Motors’ C.E.O., Mary Barra, explained that her company’s strategy has shifted along with White House priorities: As President Trump removed the E.V. tax credits, she is now dialing back on her expectations to sell more electric vehicles. She worked with the Mr. Trump to loosen emissions standards, after working with the Biden Administration to support them. And, of course, tariffs are rewriting the rules of where and how the company manufactures its vehicles.

Silicon Valley has proved particularly adept at adjusting to the Washington-driven business cycle. Palantir has become one of the most valuable companies in the world, in part, because it is one of the most favored companies of the Trump administration. And Alex Karp, Palantir’s co-founder and C.E.O., didn’t bother with the usual corporate diplomacy. He leaned into the new reality with almost religious fervor: “We don’t need belief — we need to be useful,” he said, framing his company not just as a software vendor, but as the digital arm of Western dominance.

One of the few leaders who seemed willing to acknowledge the risks of this new architecture was Dario Amodei, the C.E.O. of Anthropic. While others appeared to be jockeying for favor with the White House, he issued a warning about the prospect of irrational exuberance in tech investments.

“Some players are YOLO-ing,” he said, describing the reckless capital expenditure in A.I. infrastructure without naming a company in particular. (Most in the audience guessed he was referring to OpenAI, his former employer and biggest rival.) “They are pulling the risk dial too far.”

He added about regulation, or lack thereof: “I am concerned that there are some who see this technology as analogous to previous technological revolutions — as being like the internet, as being like telecommunications — where, yes, there are some issues, but the market will figure it out, which I think was maybe a more reasonable view in these previous technological revolutions. I think those who are closest to A.I. don’t feel this way.”

The Trump Effect extends to the geopolitical realm. Both Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered answers at times that seemed calibrated to genuflect to the White House. Mr. Lai said Taiwan’s relationship with the United States was “rock solid” despite the administration being noncommittal, at least publicly, about whether it would defend Tawian against an invasion from China.

In my final interviews of the day, I spoke with two political figures with very different perspectives on the current political moment. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has become perhaps the most outspoken critic of the president and is viewed as a front-runner among Democrats to seek the White House in 2028. While Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk and the new C.E.O. of Turning Point, is a strong supporter of Mr. Trump and his approach.

Mr. Newsom, who has taken to trolling President Trump, ridiculed his aggressive use of presidential power, saying, “There’s nothing normal about this.” He said he was selling kneepads for executives, university leaders and Republicans who were “bending the knee” to Mr. Trump.

“Some of you may need to buy them in bulk,” Mr. Newsom told the room.