US-Japan tariffs agreement pushes European automotive, buys on Stellantis

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The Japanese automotive industry is breathing a sigh of relief after the agreement with the US on lower tariffs, and is also driving the sector on the European stock markets. Thus, while the country's biggies - Toyota (+1.98%), Mitsubishi (+1.77%), Nissan (+2.31%), among others - closed higher in Tokyo (NIKKEI 225), the main stocks in the sector on the Old Continent also moved up. Purchases on Stellantis in the Milan listing (FTSE MIB) and in that in Paris (CAC 40). Also doing well on the Cac was Renault, while in Frankfurt a positive day for Daimler Truck Hd, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz Group. Moving against the trend Ferrari, hit by the reallies along with all of luxury and with Citi analysts confirming a "Sell" recommendation for the stock. "Although Ferrari remains a good brand and a commendable company," the experts explain, "we rate it as risky," also given thetriggering expectations for its results.

Returning to Japanese tariffs, US President Donald Trump, as previously announced, signed an executive order to implement tariffs at 15% (halved from the current 27.5%) on imports of cars and other products. In contrast, Tokyo pledged to invest USD 550 billion in US projects. Although, according to traders, for small manufacturers even this rate could have a significant impact, the agreement gave some relief to Japan's heavily export-oriented economy. But also to the automotive sector in general, which has been struggling for months due to the trade war, the general market slowdown and the difficult transition to electric.

In this respect, according to Intermonte, Stellantis' share price is benefiting from news from Canada. The country has in fact decided, according to Bloomberg rumours, to postpone the introduction of the plan that envisaged a minimum level of sales of electric vehicles equal to 20% from 2026. "For manufacturers, the measure is positive, as it reduces the risk of penalties and provides more flexibility in managing the sales mix," the analysts say. Specifically, Stellantis "sold about 130,000 vehicles in Canada in 2024 (equivalent to about 8-9% of North American sales and ~2% of global sales)" and in the first half of 2025, "performance was negative, down -14% year-on-year".

Despite the good news, Citi urges caution on the stock, as 'Stellantis's momentum remains negative' and 'results for the first half of 2025 were weak, with very poor results in North America'.