Trump Weekly: Trump adds goods subject to steel, aluminum tariffs

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: The Trump administration added 407 derivative product codes to the list of goods subject to the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Reuters reports. Publicly traded companies in the steel space include ArcelorMittal (MT), Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), Nucor (NUE), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and U.S. Steel (X). Publicly traded companies in the aluminum space include Alcoa (AA) and Century Aluminum (CENX). 

FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT: The United States and the European Union announced that they have agreed on a Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade. “This Framework Agreement represents a concrete demonstration of our commitment to fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial trade and investment. This Framework Agreement will put our trade and investment relationship – one of the largest in the world – on a solid footing and will reinvigorate our economies’ reindustrialization. It reflects acknowledgement by the European Union of the concerns of the United States and our joint determination to resolve our trade imbalances and unleash the full potential of our combined economic power. The United States and the European Union intend this Framework Agreement to be a first step in a process that can be further expanded over time to cover additional areas and continue to improve market access and increase their trade and investment relationship,” the parties stated in a joint release issued by the White House. 

TRUMP EO: President Trump last week issued an executive order to boost U.S. competitiveness in the commercial space industry, by cutting regulatory hurdles, speeding up launch and reentry approvals, and advancing spaceport infrastructure, and Rocket Lab (RKLB) and Intuitive Machines (LUNR) should be direct beneficiaries, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard tells investors in a research note. Faster environmental reviews and streamlined licensing, as well as clearer rules could shorten timelines for mission approvals and expansions, enabling Rocket and Intuitive to scale operations more quickly and capture additional contracts, the firm says. The firm has an Overweight rating on both Rocket Lab and Intuitive Machines. 

LARGE CAP RETAILERS: Evercore ISI raised the firm’s price target on Walmart (WMT) to $110 from $108 and on AutoZone (AZO) to $4,250 from $4,060 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The timing of Trump 2.0 policies create uncertainties into the Q2 earnings season for large cap retailers, but Q2 was “generally” solid, with early tariff pass through and limited price elasticity allowing nominal demand to hold up, the analyst tells investors in a retail earnings preview note.

INTEL STAKE: On Monday, SoftBank (SFTBY) and Intel (INTC) announced that SoftBank will make a $2B investment in Intel common stock. The investment comes as both Intel and SoftBank deepen their commitment to investing in advanced technology and semiconductor innovation in the U.S., they said. The news came amid reports that the Trump administration is in discussions to take a 10% in Intel by converting some or all of the company’s grants from the Chips and Science Act into equity. 

Bernstein says Intel was supposed to get $10.9B of CHIPS Act funding for free. Giving this up for a 10% stake by the U.S. government “seems worse,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that besides money, Intel needs customers, and it is conceivable that as part of the U.S. taking a stake the administration could encourage customers to use the company’s capacity. However, a straight equity-for-cash swap does not seem favorable to Intel, and “funding a build-out with no customers probably won’t end well for shareholders,” contends Bernstein.

On Friday afternoon, Bloomberg’s Liana Baker and Josh Wingrove reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the Trump administration and Intel are expected to announce details on a deal that would give the U.S. government an equity stake in the chipmaker.

EQUITY STAKES: The Trump administration is considering taking equity stakes in semiconductor companies receiving funds from the Chips Act but has no plans to obtain positions in larger firms that are increasing their U.S. investments, Robbie Whelan, Yang Jie and Amrith Ramkumar of Wall Street Journal report, citing a government official. However, the Commerce Department is not looking to take equity from TSMC (TSM) and Micron (MU), the official told the Journal. TSMC held preliminary discussions about handing back their subsidies if the White House asked to become a stockholder, the paper adds, citing people familiar with the discussions. 

TRUMP WON’T APPROVE WIND PROJECTS: On Wednesday, President Donald Trump stated in a post to Truth Social: “Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA” Publicly traded companies in the solar energy space include Array Technologies (ARRY), Canadian Solar (CSIQ), Complete Solaria (SPWR), Emeren (SOL), Enphase Energy (ENPH), FTC Solar (FTCI), First Solar (FSLR), JinkoSolar (JKS), Maxeon Solar (MAXN), Shoals Technologies (SHLS), SolarEdge (SEDG) and Sunrun (RUN).

BOND SPREE: President Donald Trump has bought hundreds of bonds since he returned to office, including those sold by U.S. companies affected by federal policy changes he’s championed, Bloomberg reports. The bonds, which total at least $103.7M, include municipal bonds and corporate debt from companies such as Qualcomm (QCOM), Home Depot (HD), and Meta Platforms (META), according to the report, which adds that the investments are part of Trump’s continued pursuit of wealth accumulation while in office.

NORTH CAROLINA INVESTMENT: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced that it will increase its presence in North Carolina with a 160,000+ square foot dedicated manufacturing facility at FUJIFILM’s new biopharmaceutical manufacturing site in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The $2B commitment to FUJIFILM over the next 10 years will expand the company’s U.S. manufacturing capacity and create approximately 120 new jobs in North Carolina, J&J said in a statement. In the coming months, the company also intends to share the plans for additional advanced manufacturing facilities in the U.S. as well as the expansion of current U.S. sites. “Johnson & Johnson has more manufacturing facilities in the U.S. than in any other country, and we continue to strengthen our presence here,” said Joaquin Duato, Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson. “With the recent signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we continue to expand our investment in the U.S. to lead the next era of healthcare innovation.” In March, the company announced it will invest $55B to support U.S. manufacturing, research and development, and technology investments over the next four years.

MINERALS: The White House is mulling a plan to reallocate at least $2B from the CHIPS Act to fund critical minerals projects and increase Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s influence over the sector, Reuters’ Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw report, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The proposed change would take from funds already allocated by Congress for semiconductor research and the building of chip plants, avoiding a fresh spending request as it aims to cut U.S. dependence on China for critical minerals, the authors note. 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). Companies in the minerals space include MP Materials (MP), Energy Fuels (UUUU), USA Rare Earth (USAR), and Critical Metals (CRML).