Trump Trade: Mexico, Canada tariffs going into effect March 4

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:

MEXICO, CANADA TARIFFS: President Trump said via Truth Social, “Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels. A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China. More than 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive POISONS. Millions of people have died over the last two decades. The families of the victims are devastated and, in many instances, virtually destroyed. We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled. China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date. The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

EU TARIFFS: U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on imports from the EU, saying the bloc “was formed to screw the United States,” The Financial Times’ James Politi, Kana Inagaki, and Barbara Moens report. “We have made a decision and we’ll be announcing it very soon,” Trump said during the first cabinet meeting of his second term when questioned about his plans for EU tariffs. “It’ll be 25% generally speaking, and that will be on cars and all other things.” The European Commission says the EU will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade.” Publicly traded European carmakers include Volkswagen (VWAGY), BMW (BMWYY), Mercedes-Benz (MBGYY), and Renault (RNSDF).

VENEZUELA OIL: President Trump recently posted he would revoke a Biden-era policy that allowed more oil to be produced in Venezuela and exported, a decision that deals a blow to both the country’s government and Chevron (CVX), Rebecca Elliott of The New York Times reports. While Trump did not mention Chevron directly, he said he plans to reverse concessions granted on November 26, 2022, which is when the Treasury Department gave Chevron permission to expand operations in Venezuela. Chevron’s license is up for renewal on March 1.

AI CHIP RESTRICTIONS: Microsoft (MSFT) is pushing the Trump administration to loosen and simplify the new system that will restrict the sales of U.S. AI chips across the world, Amrith Ramkumar and Tom Dotan of The Wall Street Journal reports. In a blog post set to be released, Microsoft will call for Trump’s team to loosen limitations on chips to be used in data centers for AI training models, so they no longer apply to a group of U.S. allies including India, Switzerland, and Israel, company officials said, according to the Journal.

DEI RULES: In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said Apple (AAPL) “should get rid of” DEI rules, “not just make adjustments to them.” Trump added that “DEI was a hoax that has been very bad for our country. DEI is gone!!!” On Tuesday, Apple held its annual shareholder meeting for 2025, with investors overwhelmingly voting to maintain current DEI practices.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs (GS) is set to scale back some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, changing course under the threat of possible lawsuits after President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to stamp out DEI practices in the private sector, The New York Post’s James Franey reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. Other banks that have scrubbed DEI langauge from their annual reports to shareholders include BlackRock (BLK) and Bank of America (BAC), according to 10-Ks filed Tuesday night by both companies reviewed by The Post.

FOREIGN AID: The administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance, according to a memo and court filings obtained by the AP on Wednesday. The Supreme Court intervened in that case late Wednesday and temporarily blocked a court order requiring the administration to release billions of dollars in foreign aid by midnight, Associated Press notes.