Trump Trade: White House pauses EO preempting state laws on AI

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.

AI STATE LAWS: The White House has put on hold a draft executive order that would seek to preempt state AI laws, following bipartisan backlash, Reuters’ Karen Freifeld reported on Friday.

NVIDIA CHIPS: President Donald Trump’s team has held internal talks in recent days on whether to let Nvidia (NVDA) sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips to China, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg‘s Mackenzie Hawkins and Jenny Leonard. Such a “contentious” potential move would mark a major win for the company, the authors say, noting that no final decision has been made and it’s possible that the notion remains an internal debate.

TV OWNERSHIP CAP: President Donald Trump weighed in on the FCC’s potential move to raise or eliminate the current 39% cap on local TV station owners – saying he opposes it if the result would be an “expansion of the fake news networks,” citing ABC News (DIS) and NBC News (CMCSA) specifically, Variety’s Todd Spangler reports. His remarks stand in contrast to the position of FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who was appointed by Trump. Carr has been a vocal advocate for abolishing the FCC’s decades-old rule limiting TV station groups from owning outlets that reach more than 39% of U.S. households. The National Association of Broadcasters also supports eliminating the cap. Trump signaled he would oppose the move if it gave broader reach to “radical left” news networks, the publication adds. Of note, Nexstar (NXST), seeking to clear its $6.2B deal for rival TV broadcast station group Tegna (TGNA), officially filed applications last week with the FCC that include a request for a waiver of the agency’s 39% ownership cap for local TV broadcasters.

COKE OVEN RULE: The White House said in a statement, “A strong coke industry is therefore vital to building and maintaining critical infrastructure and military readiness…The Coke Oven Rule places severe burdens on the coke production industry and, through its indirect effects, on the viability of our Nation’s critical infrastructure, defense, and national security… Now, Therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7412(i)(4), do hereby proclaim that certain stationary sources subject to the Coke Oven Rule, as identified in Annex I of this proclamation, are exempt from compliance with certain requirements of the Coke Oven Rule.” Names in the coking coal space include Ramaco Resources (METC), Warrior Met Coal (HCC), Alpha Metallurgical (AMR) and SunCoke Energy (SXC).