Trump is the cloud on Toyota’s silver lining, as record profit comes with a warning
Tokyo — Japanese car giant Toyota has posted a record first-quarter net profit, thanks to strong sales in North America and China. However, it warned that threatened US sanctions on the automotive sector could have a "very big" impact on earnings. Toyota ongoing trade friction between the US and China, as well as Washington’s tariffs on metal imports, would also eat into its bottom line. Profit rose 7.2% to ¥657.3bn ($5.9bn) in April-June, its highest-ever first-quarter result, Toyota reported on Friday. Operating profit jumped 18.9% to ¥682.7bn, with sales up 4.5% to ¥7.4-trillion. However, Toyota said it expected net profit to fall 15% for the full year to March 2019. "On trade issues, we are expecting profits will decline by ¥10bn because of (higher costs of) steel and aluminium in North America," Toyota senior managing director Masayoshi Shirayanagi, told reporters. "We have not yet factored in the impact of auto tariffs. If they are imposed, we think the impact will be very big...
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