Trump Weekly: President set to cut tariffs on beef, coffee

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:

TARIFF CUTS: President Donald Trump is slated to sign an order on Friday reducing tariffs on beef, tomatoes, coffee and bananas, according to a White House official, a move aimed at lowering costs on groceries as the administration faces pressure from voters to cut prices on everyday goods, Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove and Hadriana Lowenkron report. The exemptions would reduce trade levies on the commodities, which can’t be produced in the U.S. in sufficient quantity to meet domestic demand. The exact scope of the tariff reduction, how many total goods are included and how widely it would apply, were not immediately clear, the authors note. Publicly traded companies that could be impacted by the move include Tyson Foods (TSN), Hormel Foods (HRL), Pilgrim’s Pride (PPC), Walmart (WMT), Costco (COST), Kroger (KR), Albertsons (ACI), Sprout Farmers (SFM), McDonald’s (MCD), Yum! Brands (YUM), Chipotle (CMG), Darden Restaurants (DRI), CAVA Group (CAVA), Texas Roadhouse (TXRH), Shake Shack (SHAK), and J. M. Smucker (SJM).

OFFSHORE DRILLING: The Trump administration is drafting a plan to resume offshore oil drilling along California’s coast for the first time in decades, The Washington Post’s Jake Spring and Evan Halper report. The proposal includes six potential lease sales from 2027 to 2030 and signals strong federal support and possible funding for Sable Offshore’s (SOC) Santa Ynez Project in federal waters. Other publicly traded companies in the space include Baker Hughes (BKR), Halliburton (HAL), Nabors Industries (NBR), Noble Corp. (NE), SLB (SLB), Transocean (RIG) and Weatherford (WFRD).

CHIP RESTRICTIONS: America’s chip restrictions are now causing shortages of advanced semiconductors in China, Lingling Wei, Amrith Ramkumar, and Robbie Whelan of The Wall Street Journal report. The shortages are extreme enough that China has begun to intervene how the output of Semiconductor Manufacturing International is distributed, sources told the Journal. Chinese authorities are working to give priority to Huawei Technologies. 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).

NVIDIA CHIPS: While President Trump has made it clear he doesn’t want Nvidia to sell its most advanced AI chips to China, about 2,300 of them are being used to work for a Chinese AI company, Liza Lin and Stu Woo of The Wall Street Journal report. These were acquired through a series of deals across several countries, according to an investigation by the Journal. Despite American rules intended to prevent China from accessing the hardware, there is no evidence the deals violated U.S. law.

PROXY ADVISORY FIRMS: The White House is considering measures to restrict proxy advisory firms and exploring limits on how index-fund managers are allowed to vote, The Wall Street Journal’s Jack Pitcher and Emily Glazer report. Trump administration officials are discussing at least one executive order that would restrict proxy-advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, people familiar with the matter say, adding that this could include a broad ban on shareholder recommendations or an order blocking recommendations on companies that have engaged proxy advisers for consulting work.

Officials also are exploring limits on how index-fund managers are allowed to vote, seeking to curtail the power of BlackRock (BLK), State Street (STT), and Vanguard, which together own on behalf of clients roughly 30% or more of many of the biggest U.S. publicly traded companies. The proposed measures follow criticism from CEOs including Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon regarding proxy-adviser influence.

HEALTH INSURERS: President Trump said on social media, “I am sorry that the American People are being terrorized by Democrats who have decided to shut the Government down to make me and other Republicans continue ObamaCare subsidies, which have been a windfall for Health Insurance Companies, and a DISASTER for the American People. The largest Health Insurance Companies have seen their Stock Prices soar (Some over 1000%!) since the passage of ObamaCare. Meanwhile, Americans’ Premiums have more than DOUBLED, contrary to President Obama’s promise. I believe that the money should go directly to THE PEOPLE to purchase better Healthcare, and create competition. This enrichment of Health Insurance companies must stop. It is long past time to lower Premiums, not enrich Insurance Companies. I stand ready to work with both Parties to solve this problem once the Government is open. Stop terrorizing the American People. Stop pushing failed policies!” Publicly traded companies in the health insurance space include CVS Health (CVS), Centene (CNC), Cigna (CI), Elevance Health (ELV), Humana (HUM), Molina Healthcare (MOH) and UnitedHealth (UNH).