Trump Trade: Trump asks Apple to stop building iPhone plants in India

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 Donald Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

IPHONE PLANTS: President Donald Trump is asking Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook to stop building plants in India to make devices for the U.S., and is pushing for the iPhone maker to add domestic production, Bloomberg’s Jordan Fabian and Sankalp Phartiyal report. Apple plans to import most of the iPhones it sells in the U.S. from India by the end of next year, as Apple currently makes most of its iPhones in China. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said of his conversation with the Apple CEO in Qatar, where he’s on a state visit. “He is building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.” As a result of their discussion, Trump said Apple will be “upping their production in the United States.” 

CHINESE PARTS: Tesla (TSLA) plans to resume shipping components from China to the U.S. for the production of Cybercab and Semi trucks at the end of May after the U.S. and China reached a truce over tariffs, Reuters’ reports, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Tesla previously suspended plans to ship the components after U.S. President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%, potentially disrupting Tesla’s plan to start mass production of the much-anticipated models. 

NUCLEAR DEAL: President Donald Trump said the U.S. may be getting closer to an agreement with Iran to curb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, Bloomberg’s Patrick Sykes reports. Trump referred to an NBC interview with Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in which Shamkhani reiterated Tehran’s position that it’s willing to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief. The U.S. and Iran have held four rounds of talks about the Islamic Republic’s atomic activities, mediated by Oman, with Trump seeking a deal that would prevent Iran from potentially building a nuclear weapon, and Tehran seeking a reprieve from U.S. sanctions.

LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT: Paramount Global (PARA) executive George Cheeks is helping negotiate a settlement of President Trump’s $20B lawsuit against Paramount’s CBS News, Joe Flint and Jessica Toonkel of The Wall Street Journal report. Shari Redstone, the company’s controlling shareholder, sees a resolution as necessary for cementing its $8B merger deal with Skydance Media, but this is strongly opposed by CBS News staffers and executives. Additionally, Cheeks has been dealing with Redstone’s complaints about CBS News’ coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas. Meanwhile, Paramount itself is under pressure due to advertisers reducing spending due to economic concerns and is preparing for another round of job cuts as soon as next month, people familiar with the situation added.

ADVANTAGED AROUND TARIFFS: Ford (F) CEO Jim Farley told New York Post‘s Lydia Moynihan that despite the tariffs, he has never been more optimistic about the company’s future. “I mean, how exciting is it to go from being criticized for our US plants – in every investor meeting I had, why do you make so much in the US, why don’t you localize overseas, why don’t you do more of what your competitors do? – to actually be advantaged because we’re building an American car company and always have,” Farley said, according to the post. The Trump administration’s focus on American manufacturing is aligned with the company’s long-standing strategy, Farley added. 

U.S. INVESTMENT: Roche (RHHBY) said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at lowering prescription drug prices threatens the company’s planned $50B investment in the U.S., Reuters’ Maggie Fick reports. “Should the proposed EO (Executive Order) go into effect, Roche’s ability to fund the significant investments previously announced in the U.S. will be in question,” the company said, according to Reuters. 

U.S. PLANTS UPGRADE: Kraft Heinz (KHC) plans to spend $3B to upgrade its U.S. plants, Pedro Navio, Kraft Heinz’s president of North America, said in an interview with Reuters. The upgrades will help cut costs by making the facilities more efficient, which could help offset Trump’s tariffs, Navio added.