Trump Trade: Administration explores simplified plans for reciprocal 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 Donald Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

RECIPROCAL TARIFFS: Trump administration officials are debating over how to implement the president’s pledge to equalize U.S. tariffs with those charged by other nations, with aides scrambling to meet the president’s self-imposed deadline of April 2 to debut the plan, Gavin Bade, John Dawsey, and Vipal Monga of The Wall Street Journal report. Officials recently weighed whether they should simplify the task by sorting nations into one of three tariff tiers, people close to policy discussions said, according to the Journal. This proposal was ruled out and instead the Trump team is trying to sort how to implement an individualized rate for each nation, an administration official close to the talks told the Journal. Increased tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports took effect last week, with publicly traded companies in the steel and aluminum space including ArcelorMittal (MT), Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), Nucor (NUE), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and U.S. Steel (X).

TARIFF SPAT: Drugmakers are urging the Trump administration and European Union officials to exclude medical goods from the tariff wars, Maggie Fick of Reuters reports. The companies hope to avert price spikes on top-selling medicines made in Europe, such as Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) Wegovy for weight loss to Merck’s (MRK) cancer immunotherapy Keytruda. In discussions with U.S. officials, the pharmaceutical industry argued tariffs on the EU would increase drug costs and create access barriers for patients, more than half a dozen pharma industry sources with direct knowledge of discussions told Reuters. Publicly traded companies in the pharma space include AstraZeneca (AZN), Bristol Myers (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY), GSK (GSK), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Novartis (NVS), Pfizer (PFE), Roche (RHHBY) and Sanofi (SNY).

ENERGY PRODUCTION: In a post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “After years of being held captive by Environmental Extremists, Lunatics, Radicals, and Thugs, allowing other Countries, in particular China, to gain tremendous Economic advantage over us by opening up hundreds of all Coal Fire Power Plants, I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL.” Publicly traded companies in the space include Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP), Arch Resources (ARCH), Consol Energy (CEIX) and Peabody Energy (BTU).

BIG ON DEI: While corporate diversity initiatives across America have been caught in the crosshairs of legal activists and a Trump administration set on wiping them out, the backlash has come from within at Morgan Stanley (MS), AnnaMaria Andriotis and Lauren Weber of The Wall Street Journal report. Following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, the bank created an Institue for Inclusion with external advisers to guide its efforts and pledged to boost the share of racial minorities in its executive ranks. Today, however, the bank faces discrimination accusations and lawsuits from both white and black workers, and criticism from staff who say efforts fell short or were too heavy-handed.

NOMINATION: President Trump posted on Truth Social, “I am pleased to announce that Michelle “Miki” Bowman will be the Federal Reserve’s new Vice Chair of Supervision. Miki has been serving honorably on the Fed’s Board of Governors since 2018, and has great expertise dealing with Inflation, Regulation, and Banking. Our Economy has been mismanaged for the past four years, and it is time for a change. Miki has the “know-how” to get it done. I am confident we will achieve Economic heights never before seen in our Nation’s History. Congratulations Miki!”