Trump tariff whiplash forces more automakers to scrap profit guidance

LONDON – Unable to predict the impact of US President Donald Trump’s ever-changing trade war, Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz became the latest automakers on April 30 to yank their profit guidance, citing market uncertainty wrought by tariffs.

Volkswagen issued guidance at the bottom end of its forecast, but UBS analyst Patrick Hummel wrote in a client note that the German automaker’s outlook did not “include any impact of US tariffs”, calling it “essentially a withdrawal of guidance”.

Mr Trump’s trade war has pummelled markets in recent weeks. Even before the latest moves, a Reuters analysis showed that about 40 companies worldwide have pulled or lowered their forward guidance in the first two weeks of the first-quarter earnings season, including General Motors and Volvo.

The moves underscore the chaos unleashed by the ever-changing tariffs and the uncertainty in boardrooms and on Main Street, which is stifling Americans’ appetite for spending.

The 25 per cent tariffs on imported autos imposed earlier in April are expected to raise US car prices by thousands of dollars, reducing demand and piling pressure on an automobile industry already struggling with a slowing transition to electric vehicles.

Faced with a lack of clarity, Mercedes executives exuded an aura of studied calm during the company’s first-quarter conference call with analysts, referring to the chaos of Mr Trump’s opaque, shifting tariff policy as a “dynamic market environment”.

Chief financial officer (CFO) Harald Wilhelm told analysts that full-year guidance “cannot be provided today with a reliable degree of certainty”.

But he warned if US tariffs remained in place all year, it would shave three percentage points off profit margins for car sales and a percentage point for vans.

Chief executive Ola Källenius said the premium German automaker was still holding “constructive” talks with the Trump administration on its future US