Trump Weekly: President threatens new tariffs, announces TikTok deal

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:

TARIFFS ON DRUGS: In a post on Truth Social, President Trump stated, “Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America. “IS BUILDING” will be defined as, “breaking ground” and/or “under construction.” There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Publicly traded large pharma 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).

After President Trump announced in a Truth Social post that he will impose an 100% tariff on any branded or patented pharmaceutical product starting October 1, unless the company is building their pharma manufacturing plant in America, Jefferies analyst Akash Tewari called this news “a win for Pharma” and a “light at the end of the Trump tunnel,” noting that several large-cap companies in the space have already announced that they’re building U.S. manufacturing facilities. The firm suspects that between the MFN pilot program announcement and tariffs that the administration is trying to set up for an “on the paper” win heading into midterms, which may not actually have any material effect on Pharma companies.

TARIFFS ON KITCHEN CABINETS: In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said, “We will be imposing a 50% Tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products, starting October 1st, 2025. Additionally, we will be charging a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture. The reason for this is the large scale “FLOODING” of these products into the United States by other outside Countries. It is a very unfair practice, but we must protect, for National Security and other reasons, our Manufacturing process. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Publicly traded companies in the bathroom and kitchen retail space include Home Depot (HD), Lowe’s (LOW), Beyond (BYON), Bath & Body Works (BBWI), Wayfair (W), Williams-Sonoma (WSM), RH (RH), and La-Z-Boy (LZB).

TARIFFS ON HEAVY TRUCKS: In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said, “In order to protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition, I will be imposing, as of October 1st, 2025, a 25% Tariff on all “Heavy (Big!) Trucks” made in other parts of the World. Therefore, our Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others, will be protected from the onslaught of outside interruptions. We need our Truckers to be financially healthy and strong, for many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!” Companies in the heavy truck space include Paccar (PCAR), Daimler Truck (DTRUY), Mercedes-Benz Group (MBGYY), Volkswagen (VWAGY), and Volvy (VLVLY). Publicly traded companies in the auto space 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).

TRUMP ON TYLENOL: When Trump labeled Tylenol use in pregnant women as a potential cause of autism, President Trump threw the weight of his office behind a theory that has not yet been proven and defied the guidance of his scientific advisers, Annie Linskey of The Wall Street Journal reports. “They’re waiting for certain studies,” Trump said. “I want to say it like it is: Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it.” Meanwhile, according to the official notice Trump’s administration released on Monday, “while an association between acetaminophen and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature.” Tylenol is currently manufactured by Kenvue (KVUE).

Citi sees limited legal risk for Kenvue after the President Trump discouraged pregnant women from taking acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. However, there could be risk to Tylenol consumption given the negative headlines, the firm tells investors in a research note. Citi sees Kenvue shares trading higher today following yesterday’s selloff given the lack of new scientific evidence presented by the Trump administration. The firm keeps a Neutral rating on the shares with a $20 price target.

1:1 CHIP PRODUCTION RULE: The Trump administration is planning to ask chipmakers to produce domestically as many semiconductors as their customers import, in an effort to reduce reliance on overseas supply, the Wall Street Journal’s Amrith Ramkumar reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The administration expects to levy tariffs on firms that do not sustain a 1:1 ratio over time. Publicly traded companies in the space include AMD (AMD), Intel (INTC), Marvell (MRVL), Microchip (MCHP), Micron (MU), Nvidia (NVDA), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Texas Instruments (TXN).

Amid media reports that suggest the Trump administration is considering a plan to institute a 1:1 ratio of U.S. and foreign made chips, with tariff penalties for offending suppliers, BofA said PC, phone, and server hardware vendors might face more of the market volatility since they are the ones that need to align with the potential new guidelines. Meanwhile, the firm expects that the “usual US-concentrated manufacturers,” such as Intel, GlobalFoundries (GFS), Texas Instruments and Micron, to “see some stock boost,” though it thinks semicap equipment stocks “could be the real beneficiaries over time.” The large fabless compute vendors such as Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), AMD (AMD) and Marvell (MRVL) are likely to increase their orders to TSMC’s (TSM) U.S.-based manufacturing, added BofA.

TIKTOK DEAL: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order announcing that a proposed agreement allowing TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. will be a “qualified sale” that meets national security concerns, AP News writes. The report states that much remains unknown about the details of the arrangement, but Trump has indicated that China President Xi “gave us the go-ahead” to proceed with the deal.

In a White House Executive Order, President Trump stated, “Section 2(c) of the Act further empowers the President to determine, through an interagency process, that TikTok has undergone a “qualified divestiture,” removing the Act’s prohibitions. To achieve a “qualified divestiture,” TikTok must execute a transaction that would result in the application no longer being controlled by a foreign adversary and that would preclude formerly affiliated entities from maintaining an “operational relationship” with the application’s United States operations. The Act describes “operational relationship” to include “cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm” and an “agreement with respect to data sharing.” A plan has been presented to me to undergo a qualified divestiture of TikTok’s United States operations, as outlined in a framework agreement (Framework Agreement). Under this Framework Agreement, TikTok’s United States application will be operated by a newly established joint venture based in the United States. It will be majority-owned and controlled by United States persons and will no longer be controlled by any foreign adversary, since ByteDance Ltd. and its affiliates will own less than 20 percent of the entity, with the remainder being held by certain investors (Investor Parties). This new joint venture will be run by a new board of directors and subject to rules that appropriately protect Americans’ data and our national security. Accordingly, I have determined that the proposed divestiture would allow the millions of Americans who enjoy TikTok every day to continue using it while also protecting national security.”

EQUITY STAKE: After having taken stakes in Intel (INTC) and MP Materials (MP) to promote industries it sees as critical to national security, the Trump administration is seeking an equity stake of as much as 10% in Lithium Americas (LAC) as it renegotiates terms of the company’s $2.26B Energy Department loan for its Thacker Pass lithium project with General Motors (GM), people familiar with the discussions told Reuters. GM, which invested $625M, holds a 38% stake in the Nevada project, the report noted.

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: President Donald Trump said via Truth Social, “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”

This comes after Nexstar Media Group (NXST) announced that the company’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network (DIS) will continue to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” stating, “We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse. We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve. In the meantime, we note that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.”

Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI) also said it planned to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on its ABC affiliates when the show returns to air on Tuesday, but notes discussions with the network are ongoing, Ted Johnson of Deadline reports. The company plans to replace the broadcast with news programming. Earlier this week, ABC announced Kimmel’s return following backlash arguing The Walt Disney Company was capitulating to the Trump administration.