The baseline 10% global and additional reciprocal tariffs unveiled by President Donald Trump on Wednesday will result in the worst demand reductions for net exporters, in particular chemicals and packaging firms, RBC Capital Markets said in a Thursday note.
Commodity chemical firms are the worst positioned due to their high level of exports of around 20-40%, which would be subject to retaliatory tariffs, RBC analysts said, citing Huntsman (HUN), Dow (DOW), and GrafTech (EAF) as the ones facing the sharpest negative impacts with over 50% of foreign sales.
Potential retaliatory tariffs from China, Mexico, and Europe on US-made plastics would have a negative impact on US petrochemical companies such as LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), Westlake (WLK), Olin (OLN), Celanese (CE), Eastman Chemical (EMN), and Chemours (CC), the analysts said. Tariffs on imported Mexican beer is also a potential negative for Ball (BALL), they said.
On the flip side, the analysts highlighted Westlake (WLK), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), Silgan (SLGN), and Graphic Packaging (GPK) as the best positioned companies due to their high percentages of domestic US sales of around 65-80%.
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