*

Japanese, South Korean automakers' shares fall

*

German DAX futures trade down 0.7%

*

Auto tariffs signal a blow to global trade, investors say

By Tom Westbrook and Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, March 27 (Reuters) - Worries about throttled

global trade and a hit to auto industry profits sent shares of

car makers tumbling and drove markets broadly weaker on Thursday

after President Donald Trump put a wall of tariffs around the

U.S. auto sector.

Some $16.5 billion was wiped from transport stocks in Tokyo

, according to LSEG data. They also slid in South

Korea, and Europe was braced to sell, with the euro at

three-week lows and German DAX futures down 0.7%.

Toyota ( TM ) fell 2.7%, Honda ( HMC ) 3% and Nissan ( NSANF )

2.2%. Hyundai Motor ( HYMTF ) and Kia in

South Korea dropped about 4% each.

Volkswagen, Europe's top car maker, is in the

frame since 43% of its U.S. sales are sourced from Mexico, S&P

Global Mobility estimates, and even U.S. marques were down in

after-hours trade since their supply chains spread across North

America.

The tariffs have been well flagged and so some of the losses

were limited because of how much had already been priced in and

because car ownership is so popular in the United States that

investors think consumers will eventually just keep buying.

But the signal - hurting allies and car buyers - was

nevertheless unsettling for markets which have been slow to

accept that the levies may become permanent fixtures and drive

lasting changes in world trade flows.

The head of Germany's car industry association said the

tariffs are a "fatal signal" for global trade.

"It's hard not to interpret this as anything but a cue for

higher prices and lower growth," said Prashant Newnaha, senior

Asia-Pacific rates strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.

Trump said 25% tariffs on imported cars and light trucks

would begin on April 3. Almost half of the 16 million cars sold

in the U.S. last year were imported, with a total value

exceeding $330 billion, Goldman Sachs analysts said.

The investment bank's analysts expect a hit to sales, before

a gradual recovery. But the damage would be enough to put

Toyota ( TM ), Honda ( HMC ), Nissan ( NSANF ), Mazda Motor ( MZDAF ), Subaru and

Mitsubishi Motors ( MMTOF ) below market consensus profit

estimates for the 2026 financial year - with Mazda ( MZDAF ) taking the

heaviest hit.

Mazda ( MZDAF ) shares sank 6.1% on Thursday.

SHAKE UP

The new levies could add thousands of dollars to the cost of

an average U.S. vehicle purchase and impede production due to

the intertwined manufacturing operations developed over decades

by car makers across Canada, Mexico and the United States.

In U.S. after-hours trade, General Motors ( GM ) tumbled 6%,

while shares in Ford fell almost 5%. Shares in Tesla

slipped about 1%, drawing some support since the

tariffs add to already punitive levies keeping Chinese electric

vehicle makers mostly out of the U.S. market.

BYD, which is leading an overseas push by Chinese

automakers, said it has no plans to sell into Canada or the U.S.

but will grow global sales and build factories abroad. Its

shares rose 2.3% on Thursday for a 53% gain so far this year.

Earlier in March, Volkswagen said it was working on back-up

plans for how its passenger car brand could tackle U.S. tariffs

on imports from Mexico, while BMW prepared to absorb

the cost.

Other than automakers' shares, market moves were muted. Bond

markets were steady. The Mexican peso slipped, though

only slightly, outside of its usual trading hours, and the

Canadian dollar was steady.

Investors are waiting for further details of a wider range

of tariffs Trump says he will levy on trading partners next

week.

"I think the big concern is that not only will these tariffs

be disruptive and economically harmful, but they indicate that

the Trump administration's shake-up of global trade won't

necessarily end with next week's announcement," said Kyle Rodda,

a market analyst at Capital.com in Melbourne.

"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."

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Muralikumar

Anantharaman)