Toyota cuts annual profit estimate, expects $9.5 billion tariff hit

Tokyo: Toyota Motor cut its full-year operating profit forecast by 16 per cent on Thursday, expecting a nearly $10 billion hit from US tariffs on imported cars and grappling with higher material prices and a stronger yen.

The world's biggest automaker cut its operating profit forecast for the financial year to end-March 2026 to 3.2 trillion yen ($21.7 billion), down from a previous outlook of 3.8 trillion yen.

Toyota said it expects the US levies to reduce its profit by 1.4 trillion yen ($9.50 billion) for the entire year. It had previously estimated a hit of 180 billion yen for April and May, but it had not issued a full-year projection until now.

For the April to June first quarter, Toyota reported an operating profit of 1.17 trillion yen, down from 1.31 trillion yen a year earlier, but above the 902 billion yen average of seven analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.

Toyota's first-quarter results highlight the pressure US import tariffs are placing on Japanese automakers, even as a trade agreement between Tokyo and Washington offers potential relief.

Under the bilateral deal agreed last month, Japanese auto exports into the US would face a 15 per cent tariff, down from levies totalling 27.5 per cent previously. But a timeframe for the change to go into effect has yet to be announced.

Last week, Toyota reported record global output and sales for the first half of the year, driven by strong demand in North America, Japan and China.