Japanese automakers hit a speed bump on Trump’s latest tariff threat

Japanese car companies are trading lower on Monday following President Trump’s proposed 25% tariff on goods from Japan and South Korea. Shares of Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and other major automakers from the US’s fifth-largest trading partner were all down by more than 3% in afternoon trading.

The US is the top market for five major Japanese automakers: Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, and Mazda. It’s been a bumpy year for the companies, which expect huge multibillion-dollar tariff blows as it is. In May, Honda forecast a $4.4 billion tariff hit this year, while Nissan said it expects costs to grow by $3 billion.

While these latest 25% tariffs would not be added to the existing 25% global auto tariffs already put in place by Trump, they do appear to signal to investors that those levies are stickier than they’d previously hoped.