Trump Weekly: President approves U.S. manufacturing of ‘tiny cars’

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 weekly recap compiled by The Fly:

TINY CARS: President Trump said via Truth Social that, “I have just approved TINY CARS to be built in America. Manufacturers have long wanted to do this, just like they are so successfully built in other countries. They can be propelled by gasoline, electric, or hybrid. These cars of the very near future are inexpensive, safe, fuel efficient and, quite simply, AMAZING!!! START BUILDING THEM NOW! Thank you to the DOJ and the Departments of Transportation and Environment. ENJOY!!!” Publicly traded automakers include Ford (F), General Motors (GM), Honda (HMC), Lucid Group (LCID), Mercedes-Benz (MBGYY), Nissan (NSANY), Rivian (RIVN), Stellantis (STLA), Tesla (TSLA), Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen (VWAGY).

CAFE STANDARDS: President Donald Trump is resetting the Biden Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards. The White House said in its fact sheet, “President Trump is returning CAFE standards to levels that can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. The Biden Administration standards imposed unrealistic fuel economy targets that effectively resulted in an electric vehicle mandate. The Trump Administration’s reset of the CAFE standards ensures the program’s fidelity to the legal restrictions set forth by Congress. The Biden standards broke the law by going far beyond the requirements that were mandated by Congress when it created the CAFE program. The Biden Administration created extraordinarily stringent fuel economy standards for passenger cars and trucks, set at such aggressive levels that they were impossible to meet with available technologies for gas cars. The Biden standards would have compelled widespread shifts to EVs that American consumers did not ask for, accompanied by significant cost-of-living increases. Since EVs are so expensive to build, automakers must sell them at a loss and make up the difference by significantly raising the sticker price of gas cars. If President Trump had done nothing, the Biden standards would have raised the average cost of a new car by nearly $1,000, relative to the cost under the standards announced today. President Trump’s actions will save American families $109 billion in total over the next five years. By helping more Americans buy newer, safer vehicles, this reset is projected to save more than 1,500 lives and prevent nearly a quarter-million serious injuries through 2050.”

TRUMP INDUSTRIAL PARKS: SoftBank (SFTBY) CEO Masayoshi Son is working out details of a plan that could result in him marshaling hundreds of billions of dollars to construct Trump-branded industrial parks in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal’s Robbie Whelan, Eliot Brown and Josh Dawsey report, citing people familiar with the discussions. The facilities would be mostly built on federal land, using funds pledged by the Japanese government through a recent trade deal, and would manufacture components for AI infrastructure.

COSTCO SUING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Costco (COST) is suing the Trump administration, requesting that the Court of International Trade consider all tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act unlawful, NBC News’ Steve Kopack and Gary Grumbach report. According to a filing from late last week, the big box retailer is seeking a “full refund” of all IEEPA levies paid as a result of President Trump’s executive order imposing “reciprocal” tariffs, the authors note.

LAWSUIT: The New York Times (NYT) has sued the Trump administration over the Defense Department’s new press rules, arguing they violate free speech and due-process rights, Alexandra Bruell of The Wall Street Journal reports. Back in September, the Pentagon issued a memo stating reporters would need to sign a document restricting communication with military sources. Outlets interpreted this as requiring they agree to not disclose classified or sensitive information without approval. The Times, the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News (FOX), CNN (WBD), and others did not sign the policy.

FANNIE MAE IPO: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday commented on CNBC that the Trump administration is “well down the road” to getting an IPO of Fannie Mae (FNMA) done and would like to see “something done” by Q1 2026, Wedbush tells investors in a research note. The firm is not surprised by Lutnick’s comments, but says there is no information on the administration’s specific plans for how it will ultimately treat the Treasury’s senior preferred equity interest in Fannie Mae, how it will release the government sponsored entity from conservatorship, and whether it will be focused on selling some of the Treasury’s interest or raising the capital needed to meet the FHFA’s capital targets. Wedbush has an Outperform rating and $11.50 price target on Fannie Mae shares.

XLIGHT STAKE: The Trump administration has agreed to inject up to $150M into xLight, which makes lasers for EUV machines and has former Intel (INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger on its board, for an equity stake, The Wall Street Journal’s Amrith Ramkumar and Robbie Whelan report. ASML (ASML) is currently the only global producer of EUV machines, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars each.

PHARMA PRICING: The Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Health and Human Services issued statements announcing an agreement in principle on pharmaceutical pricing between the United States and the United Kingdom. In the historic U.S.-U.K. Economic Prosperity Deal, President Trump and Prime Minister Starmer agreed to address long-standing imbalances in U.S.-U.K. pharmaceutical trade by improving the overall environment for pharmaceutical companies operating in the United Kingdom. The EPD also secured continued investment by U.K. pharmaceutical companies in the United States, further strengthening American leadership in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.

“President Trump is the first American President to work with U.S. trading partners to ensure fair payment internationally for innovative pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients. For too long, American patients have been forced to subsidize prescription drugs and biologics in other developed countries by paying a significant premium for the same products in ours,” said Ambassador Greer. Pursuant to the terms of the pharmaceutical pricing agreement in principle announced today, the United Kingdom will reverse the decade-long trend of declining National Health Service expenditures on innovative, life-saving medicines, and increase the net price it pays for new medicines by 25%.

Furthermore, the United Kingdom will ensure that higher prices for new medicines are not materially eroded by a demand for portfolio-wide concessions under the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth or other rebate schemes. In fact, the United Kingdom has committed that the repayment rate owed by companies under the current VPAG scheme will decrease to 15% in 2026 and remain at or below that level for the duration of the scheme. In exchange for these and other commitments, the United States has agreed to exempt U.K.-origin pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical technology from Section 232 tariffs and will refrain from targeting U.K. pharmaceutical pricing practices in any future Section 301 investigation for the duration of President Trump’s term. Further, the United States will work to ensure that U.K. citizens have access to the latest pharmaceutical breakthroughs. Publicly traded companies in the space include AstraZeneca (AZN), Bristol Myers (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY), GSK (GSK), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Merck (MRK), Novartis (NVS), Pfizer (PFE), Roche (RHHBY) and Sanofi (SNY).