The euro weakened to a three-week low on Thursday and the yen was steady against the dollar after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks starting next week as the looming all-out trade war dims risk sentiment.
Investors worry that the trade duties will dent U.S. growth and potentially reignite inflation, although the prospect of narrower-than-feared tariffs has buoyed sentiment recently.
The currency market reaction to the auto tariffs was largely muted, with the euro down 0.07% at $1.0747 after touching a three-week low of $1.0733 in early trading. The yen was a shade stronger at 150.445 per dollar.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was at 104.61, close to the three-week high touched in the previous session.
The U.S. imported $474 billion of automotive products in 2024, including passenger cars worth $220 billion. Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Germany, all close U.S. allies, were the biggest suppliers.
"It's hard not to interpret this as anything but a cue for higher prices and lower growth with a soft landing becoming more complicated," said Prashant Newnaha, a senior Asia-Pacific rates strategist at TD Securities.
The Mexican peso weakened more than 0.5% to 20.2222 per U.S. dollar in Asian hours. The Canadian dollar was slightly weaker at 1.429 per U.S. dollar, having touched its strongest level since February 24 in the previous session.
Trump for now exempted auto parts that are compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade that he negotiated during his first term.
Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.Com said the tariffs indicated the Trump administration's shake-up of global trade would not necessarily end with an April 2 announcement of reciprocal tariffs, as previously hoped.
"This potentially drags out trade uncertainty even longer and raises the question of how radical a change to the global trade order is Trump trying to bring about," Rodda said.
Investor focus will now be on the reciprocal tariffs due to be announced next week. Trump indicated the measures may not be the like-for-like levies he has been pledging to impose.
The Australian dollar was slightly lower at $0.62925, while the New Zealand dollar was little changed at $0.57245.
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