By Teresa Rivas

President Donald Trump's widespread additional tariffs on global trade partners has both investors and companies scrambling. But certain stocks could be winners if some countries come to the negotiating table, Jefferies says.

"Deals will be struck between the U.S. and at least some of our trade partners in the coming days," Jefferies' Head of Sustainability & Transition Strategy Aniket Shah said.

The White House says it has fielded interest from as many as 70 countries that want to come to the table. That list notably excluded China, although the European Union is said to be leaning on that nation -- arguably the hardest hit by the levies -- to soften its stance.

Of course there are plenty of caveats, as uncertainty and confusion around tariffs abound, and levies have been a core White House message. And Shah isn't coming at the situation with rose-colored glasses: "The Trump administration intends to fully rewrite the global trade framework, and anything less will be considered a failure."

Putting all the unknowns aside , Shah says the U.K., Japan, Vietnam, India, and Cambodia are best positioned as the five countries most likely to come to terms quickly. Jefferies analysts are highlighting stocks to play for each nation, looking at factors like the location of supply chains and customers.

Some companies have connections in a few of these countries, making them possible beneficiaries from tariff negotiations on multiple fronts. This is especially true in the apparel industry, as Nike, VF Corp., Tapestry, which are set to benefit if their suppliers in Vietnam and Cambodia are spared high tariffs.

Boeing would benefit from deals with the U.K., India, and Japan, given the company's manufacturing and/or sales footprints in these countries. Amazon.com could emerge a winner as well from any deals: It gets early 6% of net sales from the U.K. and 4.3% from Japan. First Solar is another: Vietnam and India combined account for 30% of its production capacity.

Medical device maker Cooper and Waters are also exposed to the U.K.; the former also has a distribution center in Japan, while India contributes more than 8% of the latter's revenue, the firm notes.

Looking at the U.K. specifically, others on the list include ON Semiconductor, which gets nearly a quarter of its revenue from the country, and Carnival, whose P&O brand is Britain's biggest cruise line.

For Japan, Jefferies highlights Callaway Brands, as that nation is one of three regions responsible for the growing business of custom golf club assembly. Boeing produces about $5 billion worth of products there.

Both Allegro MicroSystems and Lattice Semiconductor get more than 20% of their revenue from Japan, and the country is Alcon's fourth-largest market by revenue, at 6%. Howmet Aerospace sources about 5% of its raw material in the form of titanium via the major Japanese producers, with a similar amount of its sales coming from Japan.

For Vietnam, the firm notes that Deckers Outdoor sources a majority of its products from there, while Nike manufactured half of its footwear in the country last fiscal year and is increasing its apparel exposure. VF sources 26% and Abercrombie & Fitch sources 35% of its product from Vietnam, which represents the largest portion of the Gap's global sourcing.

Abercrombie, Nike, and VF, along with Tapestry also manufacture a decent portion of their merchandise in Cambodia.

The story is similar in India for Gap, Macy's, and Tapestry. India accounts for a high-single digit amount of Boeing's deliveries through 2030, and buys about a quarter of metallurgical coal in the seaborne market, and Warrior Met Coal is a pure play on that.

Ultimately, if and when any deals happen remain an open question. And eventually the market's attention could shift to other catalysts: Raymond James' Washington policy analyst Ed Mills notes that tax cuts could help boost depressed investor sentiment.

Still, if any tariff truces are announced, these stocks could see some of the biggest bounces.

Write to Teresa Rivas at teresa.rivas@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2025 14:35 ET (18:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.