Asian car and battery makers hit as Trump gets to work

Samsung SDI

21/01/2025 02:31

TOKYO/SEOUL, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Shares of Japanese
automakers and South Korean battery makers were hit on Tuesday,
after U.S. President Donald Trump said he could impose tariffs
on Canada and Mexico soon and revoked the previous
administration's executive order on electric vehicles.
    The two moves by Trump within hours of his inauguration
highlight how changes in U.S. policy could squeeze manufacturing
giants in close U.S. allies Japan and South Korea. Car makers
are already facing immense disruption from the pivot to electric
vehicles and the stunning rise of Chinese rivals.
    Trump said that he was thinking of imposing 25% tariffs and
that the action could come on Feb. 1. The threat of potential
tariffs on the two countries has loomed over Asia's
manufacturing industries for months. Several automakers - and
their suppliers - make vehicles in the two countries that they
export to the United States.
    Shares of Nissan Motor  7201.T , Japan's third-largest
automaker, erased morning gains and were in negative territory,
down 0.3% at 420.9 yen. Nissan has two plants in Mexico, where
it makes the Sentra, Versa and Kicks models for the U.S. market.
It exports about 300,000 vehicles to the U.S. a year, Chief
Executive Makoto Uchida said in November.
    Honda Motor  7267.T  sends 80% of its Mexican output to the
U.S. market, and its chief operating officer Shinji Aoyama
warned in November it would have to think about shifting
production if the United States were to impose permanent tariffs
on imported vehicles.
    Shares of Honda also reversed early gains and were down 0.3%
at 1,479 yen. They had risen as high as 1,526 yen at the open of
trade.
    Japanese finance minister Katsunobu Kato on Tuesday said the
country would respond "appropriately" after examining the new
president's policies.
    Shares of South Korean battery makers dropped, with LG
Energy Solution  73220.KS  falling 5%, while Samsung SDI
 006400.KS  and SK Innovation  096770.KS  lost more than 4%
each.

 (Reporting by David Dolan and Jihoon Lee. Editing by Gerry
Doyle)
 ((david.dolan@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 4563 2708;))