Worldwide trade conflicts: US corporations feel the customs policy of Trump

The customs policy of US President Donald Trump and the uncertainties in world trade are also reflected in the balance sheets of US corporations. Like the motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson, the US car maker General Motors (GM) reported negative effects of customs policy, the McDonald’s burger chain gets the uncertainty of customers in the course of the current economic situation.

General Motors expects the US tariffs to make the profit forecast vigorously. Even after the recently decided relief for introduced auto parts, the tariffs are likely to cost the group $ 4 to $ 5 billion, wrote CEO Mary Barra in a letter to the shareholders.

The GM boss covered the annual outlook for the profit adjusted for special items before interest and taxes at $ 10 to $ 12.5 billion (8.83 billion to 11.06 billion euros). So far, the Detroit carmaker had calculated surgical result with up to $ 15.7 billion.

Harley-Davidson collects financial view

Harley-Davidson “withdrew due to the uncertain global tariff situation and the macroeconomic conditions” withdrawn the financial outlook for the year 2025. This came from February 5 of this year. The results for the first quarter would have been in many areas over expectations, while retail sales in the United States were weaker than expected, the company said in Milwaukee.

“We continue to concentrate on mastering the difficult economic and tariff environment by implementing our measures to increase cost-productivity, to reduce the supply chain, to strict control the operating costs and to reduce the dealerships,” emphasized Harley-Davidson boss Jochen Zeitz. Harley-Davidson is one of the US companies that could be affected by possible EU counter tariffs.

McDonald’s feels uncertainty of customers

At McDonald’s, unsettled customers continue to cause stress due to the economic situation. On a comparable basis, the proceeds fell by one percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, as the US group announced in Chicago. CEO Chris Kempczinski spoke of the most difficult market conditions. Today’s consumers would have to deal with uncertainties

The loss of the burger chain was somewhat stronger than expected from analysts. McDonald’s also referred to the CHF day in February 2024, which was missing this year. In the United States, the decline was particularly strong on a comparable basis with 3.6 percent.

At the Group level, sales fell by three percent to $ 5.96 billion (around 5.3 billion euros). The operational result also gave up three percent to $ 2.65 billion. The bottom line is that the burger king-contraensy earned $ 1.87 billion after $ 1.93 billion a year earlier.