Continental expects a blow in the “mid to high double-digit million euro” range should higher U.S. import tariffs recently announced by President Donald Trump apply to tyres, its finance chief said on Wednesday.
Car parts makers in Europe are facing renewed pressure as Trump last week announced a tariff increase on cars and trucks from the European Union to 25% from the previously agreed 15%, saying the bloc had not complied with its trade deal with Washington.
Continental finance chief Roland Welzbacher told Reuters that the new tariffs were not included in the company’s forecasts and that the firm was still waiting for details before taking further actions.
He said the expected additional burden “would require again to think about measures to offset this cost like we did last year. So we need to focus on cost savings, and obviously we also need to think about commercial measures”.
(Reporting by Emanuele Berro and Simon Ferdinand Eibach)
