Toyota, Honda, and other Japanese automakers rally as trade deal slashes their US tariff rate to 15%
Investors are pouring into Japanese auto stocks following Japan’s fresh trade deal with the US, which slashes levies on Japanese auto imports to 15% from 27.5%.
Shares of Toyota, Honda, and Mazda all soared by double digits Wednesday morning, while rivals Nissan and Suzuki also climbed.
The trade deal implies that Japanese automakers made the right call — at least in terms of building negotiating power with President Trump — by eating the brunt of tariffs. Toyota’s tariff cost for April and May alone was more than $1 billion.
That doesn’t mean US automakers are happy about it. A trade group representing Detroit’s Big Three admonished the deal, criticizing the lower rate for vehicles built in Japan than for those built in Canada or Mexico but with a greater amount of US parts.