Applied Materials Reaches $252.5M Settlement with U.S. Department of Commerce

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.TARIFFS ON CANADA:The U.S. House of Representatives voted to overturn President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, with half a dozen House Republicans joining the majority of Demorats in a 219-211 vote, Axios' Kate Santaliz. GOP representatives Thomas Massie, Don Bacon, Kevin Kiley, Dan Newhouse, Jeff Hurd, and Brian Fitzpatrick voted to terminate the president's use of a national emergency to slap tariffs on Canada, the author notes.POWER FROM COAL PLANTS:President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to secure multi-year electricity contracts with coal plants for use at military installations. According to the, "Given our Nation's vast coal resources and the proven reliability of our coal-fired generation fleet in providing continuous, on-demand baseload power, it is imperative that the Department of Warprioritize the preservation and strategic utilization of coal-based energy assets... The Secretary of War, in coordination with the Secretary of Energy, shall seek to procure power from the United States coal generation fleet by approving long-term Power Purchase Agreements, or entering into any similar contractual agreements, with coal-fired energy production facilities to serve DOW installations or other mission-critical facilities, with priority given to projects that enhance: grid reliability and blackout prevention; on-site fuel security; and mission assurance for defense and intelligence capabilities." Publicly traded companies in the space include Alliance Resource Partners, Arch Resources, Consol Energyand Peabody.H-1B FEE:Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and others large companies are looking to skirt President Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee by finding workers in categories that don't have the pay the fee, such as existing H-1B visa holders, students, and people on other types of visas, Amrith Ramkumar of The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. Some companies have also reduced their reliance on the program in the last few years and are discussing ways to avoid using the system entirely, the sources added. Smaller companies, however, can't easily navigate the policy changes or plan to invest in alternatives cheaper than the fee but still cost more than the status quo.FACTORY SHUTDOWN:Ford'selectric vehicle battery factory that was opened in Kentucky last year was one of the largest economic events to have happened in Hardin County, Jack Ewing of The New York Times. Yet, only four months after the first batteries were produced, Ford shut down the factory and laid off 1,600 workers after President Trump and Republicans in Congress gutted programs designed to promote electric vehicles. Residents in Kentucky, however, put most of the blame on Ford, believing the company was struggling to master the new technology.AWARD:The United States Department of the Air Force has awarded Oraclean $88M firm-fixed price task order to provide Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services for the Air Force Cloud One program. This award continues Oracle's role as a key partner in Department of War cloud modernization efforts. The new task order covers OCI offerings used by Cloud One and its government customers across the DAF and the rest of the DoW enterprise. Work will be performed at contractor-designated facilities throughout the United States and is scheduled to run through Dec. 7, 2028.SETTLEMENT:Applied Materialsannounced that it has reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, or BIS. The settlement resolves BIS's allegations that certain customer shipments to China between Nov. 2020 and July 2022 did not comply with the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, based on the company's misunderstanding of the applicability of those regulations. Under the terms of the settlement, Applied has agreed to pay $252.5M to the Department of Commerce. In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC have notified Applied that they have closed their related investigations without action. The company said, "Applied Materials is pleased that the Department of Justice and SEC have closed their respective reviews, and that a civil settlement has been reached with the Department of Commerce, concluding the U.S. government's review. Applied believes that resolving this matter is in the best interest of the company, its customers, employees and shareholders. Integrity and compliance are core to how Applied operates, and the company remains fully committed to maintaining strong export-control and trade-compliance practices across its global operations. With this matter closed, Applied is focused on executing our technology roadmap and supporting the accelerating demand for next-generation semiconductor innovation."