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 and his administration with this weekly recap compiled by The Fly.
1. TARIFF ON WASHING MACHINES: On Monday, the Trump Administration announced that it will impose a 20% tariff on the first 1.2M imported large residential washing machines in the first year and a 50% tariff on machines above that number. Commenting on the news, Jeff Fettig, the chairman of U.S. home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool (WHR) praised the President’s decision and said: “This announcement caps nearly a decade of litigation and will result in new manufacturing jobs in Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. […] By enforcing our existing trade laws, President Trump has ensured American workers will compete on a level playing field with their foreign counterparts, enabled new manufacturing jobs here in America and will usher in a new era of innovation for consumers everywhere.” Conversely, Samsung (SSNLF) said the announcement is a “great loss” for American consumers and workers. “This tariff is a tax on every consumer who wants to buy a washing machine. Everyone will pay more, with fewer choices.”
2. TARIFF ON SOLAR IMPORTS: This week, the Trump Administration also announced the President’s decision to slap tariffs on imported solar cells. A 30% tariff will be imposed on imported solar cells and modules in the first year, with the tariffs declining to 15% by the fourth year. The tariff allows 2.5 gigawatts of unassembled solar cells to be imported tariff-free in each year. According to Bloomberg, foreign solar panel manufacturers, including China’s JinkoSolar Holding (JKS) and JA Solar (JASO), thought that the 30% tariff implemented on U.S. imports by President Donald Trump was “better than expected.” The companies had been preparing since October when the U.S. International Trade Commission recommended a 35% tariff. Commenting on the news, Credit Suisse analyst Michael Weinstein notes that the approved solar import tariff was in-line with expectations. The analyst argued that the news is positive for companies exempt from the tariff, notably First Solar and Tesla (TSLA) until now. Conversely, Weinstein pointed out that he expects negative sentiment around Chinese solar manufacturers, such as JinkoSolar and JA Solar, and expects negligible impact to residential solar developers Sunrun (RUN) and Vivint Solar (VSLR). Other companies in the space include SunPower (SPWR), Canadian Solar (CSIQ), Yingli Green Energy (YGE), Solaredge (SEDG), Enphase Energy (ENPH), Sunrun and Sky Solar (SKYS).
