Trump Weekly: Trump closes deals with Australia, calls off Canada trade talks

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:

U.S., AUSTRALIA DEAL: President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a Critical Minerals Framework “to unleash the potential of our abundant natural resources-a model for supply-chain cooperation globally,” according to a White House statement. The U.S. and Australian governments intend to invest more than $3B together in critical mineral projects in the next six months, with recoverable resources in the projects estimated to be worth $53B. The Export-Import Bank of the United States is issuing seven Letters of Interest for more than $2.2B in financing, unlocking up to $5B of total investment, to advance minerals and supply-chain security projects. The U.S. Department of War will invest in the construction of a 100 metric ton-per-year advanced gallium refinery in Western Australia. Australia agreed to purchase $1.2B in Anduril unmanned underwater vehicles and take delivery of the first tranche of Apache helicopters in a separate $2.6B deal. Australia’s superannuation funds will increase investments in the United States to $1.44 trillion by 2035 – an increase of almost $1 trillion from current levels. The United States and Australia agreed to develop and launch a bilateral Technology Prosperity Deal to establish joint initiatives to cooperate and invest in AI, quantum, and other critical technologies.

While Donald Trump’s backing of Australia’s critical minerals will bring financial support to the industry, experts believe the U.S. president will have to wait longer before he can shift the supply chain away from China and weaken its dominance in the market, Melanie Burton of Reuters reports. On Monday, the U.S. and Australia committed $3B to mining and processing projects, which the White House believes could unlock deposits of critical minerals worth $53B. Rare earths are common in the Earth’s crust and China has mastered the technically difficult refining process, comparatively cheaply. The Fly notes that companies involved in the development and mining of rare earth minerals include Nova Minerals (NVA), Ioneer (IONR), Lynas Rare Earths (LYSCF), MP Materials (MP), Energy Fuels (UUUU), NioCorp (NB) and VanEck Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX).

CANADA TALKS OFF: President Trump stated in a post to Truth Social: “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT.”

TARIFF EXEMPTIONS: General Motors (GM) and Stellantis (STLA) will have to pay tariffs on certain U.S.-made vehicles exported to Canada after the car makers opted to move some production out of plants in Ontario, Bloomberg’s Derek Decloet reports. Though Canada in April placed tariffs of as much as 25% on U.S.-made cars and light trucks in response to President Trump’s levies on foreign vehicles, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration also carved out a “remission” exemption for car makers that make vehicles in Canada as an incentive to maintain those factories in the country, the author notes. Stellantis will lose 50% of its Canadian tariff exemption, while GM will lose 24% of the exemption, according to Bloomberg.

SOFTWARE EXPORTS: The Trump administration is considering a plan to curb software exports to China to retaliate against China’s latest round of rare earth export restrictions, Alexandra Alper, Michael Martina, Jeffrey Dastin and Karen Freifeld of Reuters report, citing a U.S. official and three people briefed by U.S. authorities. The plan follows through on Trump’s threat to bar critical software exports to China by restricting global shipments of items that contain U.S. software or were produced using U.S. software, Reuters says.

QUANTUM STAKES: Commerce Department official told CNBC that the U.S. government is not in talks to take equity stakes in with quantum computing companies in exchange for federal funding. “The Commerce Department is not currently negotiating equity stakes with quantum computing companies,” the spokesperson told CNBC’s Kif Leswing in a statement, echoing a similar report from Reuters. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Trump administration is in talks to acquire equity stakes in quantum computing companies, including IonQ (IONQ), Rigetti (RGTI), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), and Quantum Computing (QUBT).

TRUCK TARIFFS: President Donald Trump stated in a post to Truth Social, “Mary Barra of General Motors, and Bill Ford of Ford Motor Company (F), just called to thank me for putting Tariffs on Mid Size and Large Size Trucks. Their Stock has gone through the roof! They told me that, without Tariffs, it would be a very hard, long ‘slog’ for Truck and Car Manufacturers in the United States. I told them, it’s very simple, this is a National Security matter. With the Tariffs, we have a strong and powerful Economy and Country. Without them, we have the exact opposite!”