Nissan Motor has suffered several setbacks in recent months.
In February, it reported a plunge in profit and cut its outlook for the third time in the past 12 months as it faces declining sales. Merger talks with Honda collapsed and the company is scrambling to slash costs and cut thousands of jobs.
Now it’s bracing for what could be another shock to its business: the tariffs that President Donald Trump is threatening to impose on goods imported from Canada and Mexico. About one-third of the nearly 1 million cars Nissan sold in the United States last year were assembled in Mexican plants.
“If it kicks in,” the automaker’s CEO, Makoto Uchida, said in an earnings conference call last month, “that is going to be a huge impact to profit.”
Almost all automakers would be affected by the tariffs. But the impact could fall most heavily on those already facing financial trouble. That includes not just Nissan but also Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles, which is racing to reorganize and streamline its operations.