ExclusiveTrump Signs Executive Order to Explore Possible Copper Tariffs | Business Matters (Feb. 26)

And in today's business matters, Elon Musk is not as rich as he was last year. The Tesla SpaceX and X founder has lost $52 billion in net worth since the start of this year, and one of the reasons Tesla's sales are down more than 20% over the past month. Now the electric automaker's market value has fallen below $1 trillion for the first time since November of last year. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index reports that despite his net worth loss, Musk remains the richest person in the world still. He's worth about $380 billion, and that's $144 billion more than Meta and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is outlining a new strategy she says will mitigate the spread of bird flu and lower egg prices. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Rollins says the USDA will invest a billion dollars in the new plan. It will be paid for, at least in part, by money recovered after cuts made by DOGE or the Department of Government Efficiency. The plan includes helping to enhance biosecurity measures to help keep the virus off farms, cutting back regulations on egg producers, and making it easier for families to raise backyard chickens, and possibly temporarily importing more eggs to reduce prices. Next up to bat in the sports segment of the Streaming Wars is Amazon Prime. Amazon has announced that it's going to exclusively stream 21 New York Yankees regular games on its Prime video service for the upcoming season. These baseball games will be live-streamed to Prime members at no cost. This will be in New York State, Connecticut, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Streaming services have been trying to tap into sports to attract more viewers. For example, Netflix has increased investments in sports content like the high-profile Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match. And Prime Video already streams the NBA, Thursday Night Football, NASCAR, and more. Warner Bros. Discovery said it plans to offer sports and news content at no additional cost on its streaming platform Max to standard and premium subscribers in the U.S. And this is coming as consumers and customers shift away from cable TV networks to streaming services. And media companies like Warner Bros. Discovery are seizing the opportunity to gain market share and attract advertisers by introducing live sports events. The company had initially planned to charge customers for premium sports add-ons. The company also added that CNN Max, which offers news streaming and sports, will soon not be available on the basic ad-supported plan. EV maker Lucid Group is ramping up production as a new leader takes the wheel. CEO Peter Rawlinson is stepping down. This comes as production is expected to double this year. Lucid is forecasting around 20,000 vehicles. With uncertain EV demand in the U.S., Lucid has been trying to diversify its product line and introduced its SUV Gravity model to the market. In his time at Lucid, Rawlinson also helped launch the Air models. He also guided the company through its public offering. Rawlinson said that he has decided now is finally the right time to step aside. Operating Chief Mark Winterhoff will take the position of interim CEO. Luxury car maker Porsche replaced its CFO and head of sales today with two company veterans. It hopes to revive flagging performance and a weak share price. Jochen Breckner will oversee finances and IT. He was previously head of corporate development and has been at the Mateusz Becker will lead sales and marketing. He was formerly at Audi and Skoda and was head of overseas market for Porsche since 2015. The car maker is struggling to get EV sales off the ground and is suffering from weak demand in China. It's top market. AMC is defying gravity and revenue targets with the help of Wicked and Moana 2. The films drew strong crowds and helped the movie theater company top Wall Street estimates. The company reported a 20% jump in attendance in the fourth quarter, as well as an 18% rise in revenue. AMC Entertainment also generated about $114 million in free cash in the quarter. It's highest quarterly cash flow since the pandemic. AMC's results are also a sign that Hollywood studios and cinemas have rebounded from the actor strike. First Solar is soaking in the sun and the sales. The company is benefiting from a Biden administration tariff on solar panel imports from four Southeast Asian countries. U.S. manufacturers complained the foreign panels were flooding the market with unfairly cheap goods. That gave companies like First Solar, who produces in the U.S., a boost. First Solar reported a net income of $393 million for the fourth quarter, up 13% from last year. The company has also taken legal action against Shanghai-based Jingkel Solar for infringing a patent. Good ups and downs for Anheuser-Busch. Pricier labels in its portfolio like Corona and Michelob Ultra pushed its revenues to an all-time high in the fourth quarter. And this is despite a double-digit decline in volume in China that dragged AB's overall volumes below expectations. At the same time, the world's largest brewer cut down its debt. An earlier acquisition left AB in $100 billion in debt. It was built up after a blockbuster takeover of SAB Miller. Now AB is in a range that investors and analysts say could unlock return for shareholders not seen for years. Clearing the way for European companies to compete more aggressively with U.S. and Chinese firms. The European Commission plans to loosen its rules on corporate sustainability and reporting and supply chain transparency. European businesses have long complained that tight regulations and bureaucracy has hampered their ability to compete, globally especially compared to the U.S. and China. In the U.S., President Trump has rolled back regulations to spur growth. Opponents argue that the deregulation will gut corporate accountability. The European Union said it still stands firm on its net-zero emission targets and other climate goals. And Trump is also exploring tariffs on copper to counter national security risks posed by China. His new directive comes as his administration aims to secure U.S. dominance in critical minerals and tech and defense. NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao has the story. And President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to order an investigation by the Commerce Department into potential tariffs on copper, a metal that administration told us is critical to the production of EVs, solar panels, as well as U.S. weapon systems. We're starting the process to potentially impose tariffs or other trade barriers to prevent this ongoing dumping of copper and to protect the American manufacture and production of copper. It will have a big impact. Top trade advisor to the president, Peter Navarro, told us in a press call that is to address national security threats. He says as China is trying to dominate copper markets with subsidized and cheap products, the U.S. risks not having enough copper for its AI, EV and even defense. He says China has successfully expanded its economic influence in sectors ranging from steel and aluminum to solar panels and electric vehicles. It is now using that same model to gain control of the world's copper markets. President Trump just this month announced a 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum. Also on critical materials, President Trump says that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could visit the White House this upcoming Friday to sign a deal on its rare earth minerals. We're saying, look, we want to be secured. We want to get that money back. He also again teased an economic deal between the U.S. and Russia. Meanwhile, some shakeup is happening right here at the White House. The White House press secretary announced on Tuesday. Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team, offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility. Well, we're going to be now calling those shots. And on the shakeup inside of federal government, Trump today again backed Elon Musk's initiative to ask federal employees what they got done last week. So if you don't answer, I guess you get fired. I mean, everybody speaks for me. I'm one. I'll take responsibility. The White House says Elon Musk will join President Trump's first official cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Reporting by Iris Tao, NTD News. Meanwhile, Mexico has lost its appetite for genetically modified corn, which could further strain its relationship with the U.S. Mexico's lower house of Congress approved a ban on planting GM corn. This comes after a panel found Mexico violated the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement over its restrictions on genetically modified corn. As a result, Mexico repealed its import restrictions on GM corn for humans, livestock, and industrial uses. A major consultancy in Mexico warned that the new ban could lead to retaliatory measures by the U.S., especially on the heels of the panel ruling. And in related news, Apple is working to fix a bug in the iPhone's speech-to-text feature. The glitch momentarily displays Trump when users say the word racist. Before the transcription software corrects itself, an Apple spokesperson said that the glitch sometimes occurs when users dictate certain words with an R consonant. A viral video on TikTok highlighted the issue. The latest bug comes a day after Apple announced plans to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years. The investment will support initiatives that focus on artificial intelligence, silicon engineering, and software development. Trump said that Apple's investment announcement demonstrated confidence in his administration. President Trump urged Apple to scrap its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies today after the iPhone makers' shareholders voted to keep them. Major American companies, including Meta and Alphabet, have dropped DEI initiatives ahead of and after Trump's return to the White House. Trump and other Republicans have criticized corporate DEI programs as discriminatory. The president has suggested the Department of Justice could investigate if such efforts violate the law. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, DEI was a hoax that has been very bad for our country. DEI is gone. Shareholders who voted against keeping DEI initiatives raised legal concerns. Apple has said that its active oversight efforts mitigate the legal risks. An online education company is suing Google over artificial intelligence. Chegg is a company that provides students with homework help and test answers. It relies heavily on Google to send internet users to its site when they ask questions. But now that the search engine incorporates AI into its search, it can provide answers on its own page. Chegg claims Google forced it to supply proprietary content to be included in those results. Google says the claim is meritless and claims its AI overviews send traffic to more sites. Chegg's revenue has fallen 24% in the past year, but the reality is its troubles started much sooner. Chegg's stock reached a high of $113 per share at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. It closed yesterday at $1.07. And Tropicana is in the midst of a financial crisis and could be headed for bankruptcy. The iconic company, best known for its orange juice, is facing challenges on multiple fronts as the citrus industry falters. Tropicana Brands Group has seen sales and profits go downhill in recent years. Higher prices, competition, and shifting consumer trends have hammered the company. And it's also facing supply shortages in top orange-growing areas worsened by disasters like hurricanes in Florida. The Agriculture Department expects this year's Now, if you're planning a cruise, there are new age restrictions for young travelers. Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean have new minor guest policies now in place. Passengers are now required to be 21 years old to sail on their own. Guests younger than 21 years old can no longer travel solo for trips leaving the United States. Carnival says those passengers must travel with a relative or guardian that's 25 years of age or older. The cruise line said guests who are 21 to 24 years old can travel with their children who are minors. Royal Caribbean mandates a guest under 21 must stay in the same room as an adult 21 years old or older. Oil and gas giant BP announced it will cut spending on renewable projects and will instead focus on fossil fuels. It hopes the change will increase returns for shareholders amid growing energy demands. Climate activists, meanwhile, have condemned the move. NTD's international correspondent Malcolm Hudson has more for us from London. British energy company BP confirmed it will cut spending on climate-related ventures and will instead increase investment into oil and gas production. BP hopes this change of direction will improve long-term shareholder value, though climate activists have criticized the move. In a statement titled Reset BP, the company said it will reduce its investment into net zero transition businesses by $5 billion a year. Net zero refers to the plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now BP will invest a maximum of $2 billion in net zero companies such as renewable energy. Senior climate advisor Charlie Cronick condemned the move. Over the last few years, five years, there's been a debate about whether or not the fossil fuel industry and particularly the big oil companies could be part of the green transition, the low carbon transition. I think the announcement today from BP, you know, there's been trail very heavily that they're abandoning their green targets. It ends that debate forever. Cronick suggested it's down to governments to make the oil and gas industry pay for the net zero transition by new taxes and levies. BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said the company went too far too fast in its shift to achieve net zero. He said that energy demand continues to rise, while pressure on budgets means lower cost energy won out in most nations. BP announced it will increase its investments in oil and gas production by about 20% to $10 billion a year. Auchincloss said BP will be very selective about its investments in renewables to focus on spending on the highest returning businesses. It comes amid underperforming stocks compared to peers such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron, who made more modest climate commitments. Auchincloss has already spun off BP's offshore wind business in a joint venture. He's also looking to offload its onshore wind division. BP has been slashing costs in the face of tougher trading. Recently, it announced it would cut more than 5% of its workforce. President Trump's promise to drill baby drill have encouraged the oil and gas giants to focus more on fossil fuels. BP has said it wants to increase its production to between 2.3 and 2.5 billion barrels of oil per day by 2030, and said it hopes major oil and gas projects will start by the end of 2027, with a target of 8 to 10 kicking off by the end of the decade. Malcolm Hudson, NTD News, London. The maker of blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs Zepound and Munjaro has announced it will build four new manufacturing plants in the United States. It's a $27 billion investment for Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly. The drug-making giant says three of the sites will make active pharmaceutical ingredients the foundational materials of medicines. The fourth site will make injectable products. Eli Lilly's CEO says the company wanted to create more manufacturing capacity and add to redundancy to strengthen its supply chain. But also, he said, that attributed possible political policies as a major contributor to the plant. And it's still a love story between the National Football League and Taylor Swift. According to Apex Marketing, the pop superstar brought a billion dollars worth of publicity to the sport. The firm tracked how often Swift and the NFL were mentioned since her game debut in 2023. The launch of her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelsey and her Record Breaking Errors tour amplified the media exposure that has waned since the season ended a few weeks ago. Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. tumbled more than expected in January. It suggests the critical spring home-buying season is starting off on weak footing. New home sales fell 10.5 percent in January. That's well below expectations. Existing home sales also fell in January, down nearly five percent from December. Rising home prices and persistently elevated borrowing costs are keeping buyers on the sidelines. McDonald's said on Tuesday it would not impose any surcharges while serving eggs as part of its meals and will also launch $1 McMuffins on its app. The burger giant has been aiming to attract lower-to-middle-income consumers who have been shying away from splurging on dining out amid rising inflationary woes. Americans have been grappling with higher egg prices owing to increasing cases of bird flu. Waffle House and Denny's have both added egg surcharges for customer orders. McDonald's posted its biggest decline in U.S. sales during its latest earnings report, even as its global sales saw a surprise increase. Okay, on to Wall Street. S&P 500 ended little change today ahead of NVIDIA's quarterly results, which are expected to set the tone for the artificial intelligence sector. All eyes will be on AI leader NVIDIA after the market closed later today when the results come. And stocks lost ground in the afternoon trading, with investors digesting the latest comments from President Donald Trump on tariffs. NVIDIA shares rose, while an index of semiconductors was also higher. Gains in technology were offset by losses in healthcare, consumer staples, and other sectors. And with that, it's all today on Business Matters.