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All three major US automakers have lowered their full-year profit forecasts for 2018.

Trump's trade wars and tariffs are hurting the business both in the US and China, the world's two biggest markets.

The auto industry has been predicting a downturn, but GM, Ford, and FCA might have sent a unified signal to Trump that if changes aren't made fast, the slide could arrive ahead of schedule.

Wednesday wasn't a good day for the US auto industry. It began with the tragic news that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne had died after complications from surgery, and it ended with Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas asking Ford CEO Jim Hackett if Hackett thought he'd be keeping his job.

In between, General Motors, Ford, and FCA all lowered their full-year profit forecasts while reporting second-quarter results, and Ford missed on Wall Street's earnings expectations. (Hackett, by the way, told Jonas he wasn't going anywhere.)

GM in part blamed the Trump administration's tariffs on aluminum and steel for contributing to an unexpected $1 billion headwind for 2018. Ford also had to deal with more expensive steel due to tariffs, as well as a fire at a supplier that curtailed pickup-truck production and a panic-inducing meltdown of the carmaker's China operations. Hackett also revealed that Ford needs to spend $11 billion over the next three to five years to fix its business.

Everybody's stock slid, with Ford now perilously close to falling into single digits.

To put this all in perspective, the Big Three all made money in the quarter, the US auto sales market has been booming for three years, unemployment is very low in the United States, and gas is still relatively cheap. There are always problems in the car business, but for the most part, the business has been pretty good.

But Trump has done everything he can think of to create new problems. The tariffs, which have had an immediate negative impact on Detroit's costs, are just the tip of an ugly iceberg.

Hatred for American cars in China?

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Discussing second-quarter results with Wall Street analysts, GM executives were asked if the mounting trade war between the US and China is engendering anti-American sentiment in the Middle Kingdom, the world's largest vehicle market and where GM is looking for future growth.

"We haven't seen any of that yet," CFO Chuck Stevens said. But he evoked the specter of Japanese and South Korean difficulties with the issue in China — somewhat damaged those countries' ability to sell cars to Chinese consumers.

In the context of trade hostilities with China, Ford is now facing a wholesale restructuring of its business in the region after a swoon in sales, with predictions that duties and tariffs could cost the automaker upwards of $300 million in 2018.

FCA, meanwhile, saw a collapse in Maserati sales in China thanks to the uncertain sales and import market that the trade war has induced.

If anybody thought that the industry could ride out 2018 without feeling any pain from Trump's moves, they were wrong. The pain has arrived swiftly.

Far-reaching consequences

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