As part of America’s Industrial Policy transformation, Thetrump administration is pressing companies across nearly 30 industries to strike deals that advance national and economic security goals, Reuters reported.

Officials are offering tariff relief, revenue guarantees, and even government equity stakes in exchange for concessions. The rapid pace of negotiations is aimed at securing political wins for President Donald Trump before the 2026 midterm elections, the sources said. Stocks like USA Rare Earth (USAR), Lithium Corporation (LTUM), Centrus (LEU) and other appear to be moving higher mid-day Thursday on the news and speculation of which companies could be targeted.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has emerged as the administration’s lead dealmaker, overseeing government stakes in Intel and Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel. “If we’re going to give you the money, we want a piece of the action,” Lutnick said in August. He is building out a Wall Street-heavy team under a new U.S. Investment Accelerator, seeded in part with $550 billion from Japan as part of its trade commitments.

The International Development Finance Corporation, originally tasked with overseas projects, is also central to the strategy. A June proposal before Congress would expand its mandate and increase its firepower to $250 billion, creating an equity fund to support critical supply chains, energy, minerals, and infrastructure.

Reuters reports that the administration’s outreach spans semiconductors, AI, shipbuilding, critical minerals, energy, and pharmaceuticals. On Tuesday, Trump announced a White House deal with Pfizer to cut drug prices in exchange for tariff relief, declaring: “The United States is done subsidizing healthcare of the rest of the world.”

Companies are learning the optics are as important as the agreements. Eli Lilly was pressed by the administration after announcing new U.S. plants without including Trump. “As an American company, Lilly is committed to expanding manufacturing capacity in the U.S.,” a spokesperson said. Pfizer and AstraZeneca declined comment.

Some executives view the strategy as a chance to tap government support, while others fear strings attached. One minerals executive said industry peers worry about being told: “We need 10% of your company.” Lawyers caution that deals could unravel if the next administration reverses course.

Just today speculation about who may be next under the Trump admin’s spotlight sent microcap US Lithium miner Lithium Corp soaring as much as 500%.

Supporters – and even some critics – say the approach is pragmatic, aiming to de-risk vital sectors, ensure taxpayer returns, and bring jobs back to the U.S. “They want to see projects that are credible and where there are viable partnerships,” said Mark Jensen, CEO of ReElement Technologies, after meeting officials on rare earth supply chains.

In his latest report, JPM’s Michael Cembalest, hardly a fan of the Trump admin, discussed how the recent purchases of stakes in companies like Intel is actually a good idea, to wt:

Bottom line: it’s a really mercantile world out there. While the US has a stellar track record in creating new companies compared to Europe (see bubble chart), the rest of the world often provides a lot more in the way of tax, loan, grant and other subsidies to its manufacturing industries than the US4F5. In China, the world’s most mercantile country, such subsidies can reach 15%-35% of industry profits. Providing a Federal government lifeline to Intel may have been the least bad option in the world illustrated below

More in the full JPM note available to pro subs.

Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A new California law banning federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty has left agents and their families fearing for their safety.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation into law on Sept. 20 that makes it a misdemeanor crime for local and federal law enforcement officers to wear face coverings on the job. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.

The legislation, Newsom said, is about saying “enough” to federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.

“Unmask,” he said. “What are you afraid of?”

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has told federal law enforcement to ignore California’s law.

Federal agents have been wearing masks to protect their identities because they and their families fear being doxxed by activists.

Doxxing a federal agent by posting their personal information on social media or other channels is a felony.

The wife of a Border Patrol agent in California called the state law “disheartening.”

“It’s already a high-risk, dangerous job,” she said, speaking to The Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“I agree with the [Trump] administration that these agents should be protected,” she said.

She said agents are labeled as Nazis and their children are bullied at school.

“Being called a Nazi is heartbreaking,” she said. “It’s not true.”

Children either “go home thinking their parent is this horrible person,” or they know it’s not true but are afraid to say anything about it at school, she said.

Meanwhile, teachers and school board officials calling for the abolishment of ICE and Border Patrol on social media aren’t helping to diffuse the situation, she said.

Protesters should stop blaming agents for doing their jobs and take their grievances to the politicians who create the policies, the wife said.

“This is a policy issue. It’s not an agent issue,” she said. “They’re making it personal, and it’s not personal.

“We see how groups like Antifa or protesters are making sure that they get pictures or videos and then they’re posting them online,” she said.

“We … have to protect our children first … and living like this right now, where our own governor is against us, is very scary. It’s frightening.”

Earlier in September, Newsom downplayed concerns about doxxing, saying such claims are unfounded and unproven, and that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hasn’t provided the data to substantiate the alleged increase in violence against federal agents.

“All they have provided is misinformation and misdirection,” Newsom said.

In July, a DHS memo said assaults on federal agents were up 830 percent from last year. Two months later, DHS reported a 1,000 percent increase in assaults.

Agents have been ambushed, shot at, and attacked with rocks, glass bottles, and other objects.

In Portland, an agitator allegedly hurled an incendiary device at officers during a demonstration. In Southern California, an agent serving a criminal warrant at a marijuana grow site was sent to the hospital for stitches after being attacked by protesters. And in late September, a deadly shooting attack at a Dallas ICE facility was carried out by a gunman who engraved “Anti-ICE” on bullet casings.

California law allows protesters to wear face masks, although California Code, Section 185 makes it illegal to wear a mask to avoid being identified while violating the law.

On Sept. 26, a federal grand jury indicted three women—two from Southern California and one from Colorado—for following an ICE agent home, livestreaming their pursuit, and then posting the agent’s home address on Instagram.

The accused—Cynthia Raygoza, 37, of Riverside; Sandra Carmona Samane, 25, of Panorama City; and Ashleigh Brown, 38, of Aurora, Colorado, face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison if convicted of conspiracy and publicly disclosing the personal information of a federal agent.

On Sept. 20, before signing the masking bill into law, Newsom accused the Trump administration of using “secret police” tactics and sending “masked men” to “terrorize” immigrant communities.

“The impact of these policies all across this city, our state, and nation, are terrifying. It’s like a dystopian sci-fi movie—unmarked cars, people in masks, people quite literally disappearing, no due process, no rights,” he said.

“Immigrants have rights, and we have the right to stand up and push back, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Manny Bayon, National Border Patrol Council union president in San Diego, told The Epoch Times that doxxing has been a real safety threat for agents and their families.

“How do you delete from social media? You don’t,” he said. “We’ve had incidents where they’ve identified an agent, they’ve identified a wife, they’ve identified where the kids go to school—that kind of thing. So that’s concerning.”

White House border czar Tom Homan said in June that he is living separately from his family due to death threats.

“The death threats against me and my family are outrageous,” he told Fox News.

“I don’t see my family very much; my wife’s living separately from me right now … mostly because of the death threats.”

There is even less security for rank-and-file agents, Bayon said.

When doxxing is reported, it is documented, and credible threats are passed up the chain of command.

“Then we take precautionary measures for the family,” he said.

Agents Told to Ignore Law

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli sent a memo to all federal law enforcement agency heads in the Central District of California on Sept. 26 telling them to ignore the state’s masking law.

He posted the two-page memo on X, stating Newsom is “confused” about his role under the U.S. Constitution.

“He oversees California, not federal agencies. He should review the Supremacy Clause,” Essayli wrote.

“California’s law to ‘unmask’ federal agents is unconstitutional, as the state lacks jurisdiction to interfere with federal law enforcement.

“I have directed federal agencies to disregard this state law and adhere to federal law and agency policies.”

Essayli wrote in the memo that Newsom has “made clear” the new law is “targeting federal law enforcement officers who wear masks during immigration enforcement operations in order to protect their safety and their families’ safety.”

The governor’s office did not provide a comment in response to an inquiry about Essayli’s memo, but said Newsom’s earlier statements “still stand.”

Jack Philips contributed to this report.

“The tanker was seized in neutral waters without any justification, and they were apparently looking for some kind of military cargo, drones, or something else,” Putin said Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi, condemning the French takeover of an oil tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” which seeks to evade Western energy sanctions as an act of “piracy”.

“There’s nothing there, there never was, and there can’t be anything,” Putin asserted of the boarding action which took place earlier this week. The tanker was under the flag of a third country and the crew is international, Putin described, adding he doesn’t know “how much it’s related to Russia.”

French authorities revealed details for the first time on Thursday, confirming that they arrested the captain, a Chinese national. He’s accused of disobeying orders of the French navy.

Another crew member, the First Officer, was also arrested, as Reuters details of French statements:

French police have arrested the captain and first officer of a sanctioned tanker suspected of operating for Russia’s “shadow fleet,” authorities said on Thursday, after the navy boarded the vessel, which may have been involved in recent drone incidents around Denmark.

The vessel, the Boracay, was approximately 50 nautical miles south of Copenhagen on September 22 when drone activity forced the closure of the city’s airport around 1830 GMT, according to data from MarineTraffic.

It was also observed heading south along Denmark’s western coast on the evening of September 24 when drones were reported flying north of Esbjerg and near several nearby airports.

The tanker appeared on on an EU sanctions list for transporting Russian oil, but the whole Denmark drone incursion linkage aspect to it seems highly coincidental, and a big stretch, assuming there’s no further evidence and that no actual drones were found upon searching the vessel. 

French authorities would be presenting any such evidence very quickly, but instead they just issued ambiguous statements remotely suggesting the linkage to the Denmark drone sightings.

French authorities say that the Boracay has a history of changing names and flags, and is currently flying under Benin’s registry. It’s believed this is part of intentional sanctions-dodging. The Boracay is now anchored off France’s coast near Saint-Nazaire, south of Brest.

From “shaddow fleet” to “dark fleet”. Imagine if journalists offered context instead of fuelling war propaganda. If the audience were informed about Nord Stream, NATO threats against Kaliningrad, threats of seizing Russian ships etc, then the public would favour de-escalation pic.twitter.com/Lbwy5sLQB9

— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) October 1, 2025

It had initially set sail from the Russian port of Primorsk outside Saint Petersburg on September 20 and had actually been at one point detained Estonian authorities earlier this year for sailing without a valid country flag. International law allows countries to intercept such vessels which are believed to be stateless, typically if there is suspicion of wrong-doing like smuggling.