Auto stocks slide as Trump's tariff wall spoils profit outlook

Worries about throttled global trade and a hit to auto industry profits sent shares of car makers tumbling yesterday after US President Donald Trump put a tariff wall of tariffs around the US auto sector.

- TOM WESTBROOK ANKUR BANERJEE

Some $16.8 billion was wiped from transport stocks in Tokyo, according to LSEG data. They also slid in South Korea, and Europe was braced to selloff, with the euro at three-week lows and German DAX futures down 0.7%.

Toyota fell 2.7%, Honda and Nissan 2.2%, Hyundai Motor and Kia in South Korea dropped about 4% each. Volkswagen, Europe's top car maker, is in the frame since 43% of its US sales are sourced from Mexico. S&P Global Mobility estimates, and even US marques were down in after-hours trade since their supply chains spread across North America.

The tariffs have been well flagged and so some of the losses were limited because of how much had already been priced in and because car ownership is so popular in the United States that investors think consumers will eventually start buying.

But the signal — hurting allies and car buyers — was nevertheless unsettling for markets, which have been slow to accept that the levies may become persistent, traders said, and drive lasting changes in world trade flows.