Shares of U.S. car makers rise premarket in tandem with European rivals
Shares of U.S. car makers were higher in premarket trade Thursday, tracking gains for their European rivals after a U.S. official said it would be prepared to back off stiff tariffs on cars imported from the EU if the trading bloc eliminates duties on U.S. cars. The news was reported by German daily Handelsblatt, citing unnamed sources. General Motors Co. was up 1.6% in recent trade, while Ford Motor Co. was up 0.8% and Tesla Inc. was up 0.7%. President Donald Trump has threatened Europe with tariffs on auto imports, even though relatively few European cars are sold in the U.S. Of the 17.3 million cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. last year, fewer than 7% came from Europe. Many U.S. cars exported to Europe are exempt from EU duties, because they include a requisite percentage of parts made n the Continent, as MarketWatch’s Jeffry Bartash has reported.