Daimler Truck, Traton shares fall on Trump's truck tariffs

FRANKFURT/BERLIN/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Shares in Germany's Daimler Truck and Traton fell on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on heavy-duty trucks, adding to trade tensions that have hit the automotive sector hard.

Together with a barrage of tariffs in other sectors, including on pharmaceuticals, Trump said on Thursday the U.S. would impose duties of 25% on imports of heavy-duty trucks from October 1.

The news comes after Brussels and Washington in July agreed that almost all goods entering the U.S. from the EU, including cars, would be subject to a 15% baseline tariff, and that this would not be added to any existing rates.

IMPACT NOT YET CLEAR

Germany's auto industry association called the move "incomprehensible", adding "additional trade barriers would not only further burden investment and jobs in the U.S., but also weaken supply chains and increase costs".

Daimler Truck's stock was down 2% at 1413 GMT, while shares in Volkswagen-owned Traton were 2.4% lower.

Citi said a 25% tariff on trucks assembled in Mexico would likely have a 700-800 million euro ($818-$934 million) impact on earnings for Daimler Truck, although the group could be able to absorb around half of that in the near term via price increases.

Neither Daimler Truck nor Traton export to the United States from Europe as they have factories in the U.S. and sites in Mexico that are covered by the USMCA free trade pact.

Analysts at Bernstein said it had not been explicitly said that Trump's announcement would apply to the USMCA-compliant Mexican sites, but that they assumed it to be the case.

"Finally, it's also not clear if the industry-specific tariffs will come on top of the country-based tariffs, although some countries including the EU have negotiated agreements that prevent tariff 'stacking'," the analysts said.

Volvo Group, which produces all of its U.S. trucks domestically, said it welcomed the U.S. administration's efforts "to get rid of the comparative disadvantage of producing in the U.S.". Its shares were up 3.5%.

Daimler Truck and Traton declined to comment.

($1 = 0.8562 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Marie Mannes and Christina Amann. Editing by Barbara Lewis and Mark Potter)