Trump Trade: $2B of CHIPS Act funds may be reallocated to minerals

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

EQUITY STAKES: The Trump administration is considering taking equity stakes in semiconductor companies receiving funds from the CHIPS Act, but has no plans to obtain positions in larger firms that are increasing their U.S. investments, Robbie Whelan, Yang Jie and Amrith Ramkumar of The Wall Street Journal report, citing a government official. However, the Commerce Department is not looking to take equity from TSMC (TSM) and Micron (MU), the official told the Journal. TSMC held preliminary discussions about handing back their subsidies if the White House asked to become a stockholder, the paper adds, citing people familiar with the discussions. 

MINERALS: The White House is mulling a plan to reallocate at least $2B from the CHIPS Act to fund critical minerals projects and increase Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s influence over the sector, Reuters’ Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw report, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The proposed change would take from funds already allocated by Congress for semiconductor research and the building of chip plants, avoiding a fresh spending request as it aims to cut U.S. dependence on China for critical minerals, the authors note. Publicly traded companies in the semiconductor space include AMD (AMD), Intel (INTC), Marvell (MRVL), Microchip (MCHP), Micron (MU), Nvidia (NVDA), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Texas Instruments (TXN). Companies in the minerals space include MP Materials (MP), Energy Fuels (UUUU), USA Rare Earth (USAR), and Critical Metals (CRML).

TRUCK VISAS: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said via X, formerly Twitter: “Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers. The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.” Publicly traded companies in the space include ArcBest (ARCB), J.B. Hunt (JBHT), Knight-Swift (KNX), Old Dominion (ODFL), Saia (SAIA) and Werner (WERN).

‘AMERICA BY DESIGN’: President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to launch the “America by Design” initiative, establishing the National Design Studio to “enhance the usability and aesthetics of Federal digital and physical services,” the White House announced. The Order establishes the National Design Studio and the role of Chief Design Officer to “facilitate design improvements in both digital and physical Federal spaces,” a fact sheet released by the White House stated.