European and Asian manufacturers are particularly affected. On the Frankfurt stock exchange, the courses from BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Volkswagen clearly lost. The values of the Japanese Toyota and Honda were also in a descent. However, the price losses of US manufacturers such as General Motors and Ford were similarly high because they produce a lot in Mexico and Canada.
The general uncertainty also stressed other industries. In the previous days, Washington had sent signals that the new tariffs promised for 2nd April could not be so harsh, which the markets had received positively. On Wednesday, however, Trump announced the imports for the auto industry, which should be due from April 3. Flat-rate US tariffs from 25 percent on steel and aluminum imports have been in effect since March 12.
“Once again, a customs cloud darkens the market,” said analyst Patrick O’Hare from Briefing.com on Thursday. The Wall Street shows with its downward movement “that it doesn’t like the tariffs,” said Sam Stovall from the market research company CFRA. However, the decline is moderate, from which he concludes that investors do not assume that the new tariffs “last long enough to trigger a recession”.
The dollar still dropped. This is due to the fact that “tariffs on cars and auto parts negatively put a negative impact on the US economy, in particular due to the disruption of the networked supply chains in North America,” said Lee Hardman from Japanese Bank Mufg. As a result, the US Federal Reserve could be inclined to reduce the key interest rates, which would put a strain on the dollar.
