FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German luxury carmaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE) cut its 2018 profit forecast, blaming a trade war between China and the United States and stricter pollution targets, sparking fears of a wave of earnings downgrades across the industry.
The company said late on Wednesday that import tariffs on cars exported from the United States to China would hurt sales of its Mercedes-Benz cars, resulting in slightly lower earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) this year.
It previously saw 2018 EBIT rising slightly.
“We do not believe Daimler will be the only OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to reduce guidance. Other OEMs are also exposed to similar trends that Daimler cites in various degrees,” Morgan Stanley analysts said.
German rival BMW’s (BMWG.DE) exports of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) from the United States may suffer similarly, and stricter vehicle certification tests will hit all European manufacturers in the second half of this year, they said.
Slower sales of SUVs from the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama to China will result in a hit of around 250 million euros ($289 million), Evercore ISI analysts said.
At 0820 GMT, Daimler shares were down 4 percent at 58.05 euros, the biggest fall by a European blue-chip stock, while shares in BMW and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) were down 2.9 and 2 percent, respectively.
Daimler’s revised forecast comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is proposing to impose tariffs on imported vehicles on the grounds that trade imbalances on many products threaten U.S. national security.
He is separately promising to impose tariffs on up to $200 billion
