April 7, 2025 Newswires

How Donald Trump's tariffs hit the stocks of Maine's biggest employers

Michael Shepherd, Bangor Daily News, MaineBangor Daily News

Apr. 4—AUGUSTA, Maine — President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs are a massive bet that global companies will bring production back to the U.S. In the short run, they will drive up costs.

The shock is showing in the stock market, which plunged on Friday for the second straight day since the Republican president's long-awaited announcement. He is imposing 10 percent tariffs across the board, with higher ones for roughly 60 countries or trading blocs, including the European Union, China and Japan.

JP Morgan sees a 60 percent chance of a recession. The average household will lose $3,800 this year as a result of all the tariffs, according to the Yale Budget Lab. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that the tariffs will worsen inflation and lower economic growth.

The stock selloff has begun to hit some of Maine's largest employers, including grocery chains and defense contractors that are generally considered safe investments. Overall, it shows how Wall Street expects the tariff effects to trickle down to consumers of all types.

Ahold Delhaize (Hannaford)

Maine workers: More than 9,000

Grocery stocks did well in the first part of 2025, with industry watchers seeing conservative investors moving into a safe sector during a time of global economic turmoil. The CEO of the Dutch-Belgian company that owns Maine's largest supermarket chain told CNBC earlier this year that it was insulated from many tariff effects.

Early Thursday, Ahold Delhaize reached the highest stock price it has ever had since the 2016 merger that formed it. That went down slightly into Friday, when a European trade journal mused about grocers in the region being drawn into the new American trade war.

Walmart

Maine workers: More than 8,000

Shares of the world's largest company by revenue slumped on Thursday along with the rest of the market. Other retailers from Best Buy to Dollar General fell further, with companies warning recently that price increases may be required to keep profit margins high enough.

In the long term, Walmart's size may help it withstand the effects of tariffs, according to Fortune. It can use that buying power to pressure suppliers to lower prices to account for the tariffs, which is something that many of its rivals cannot do.

General Dynamics (Bath Iron Works)

Maine workers: More than 6,500

Defense stocks may "offer shelter" for investors during the trade war, Barron's wrote this week. That is because the industry typically buys and sells their products in the U.S., which is in part for reasons of national security.

That could insulate the parent company of the Bath shipyard that builds vessels for the U.S. Navy. But its stock dropped more than Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman initially after Trump's announcement because General Dynamics is more reliant on commercial work in, according to Investopedia.

TD Bank

Maine workers: More than 2,000

The Motley Fool compared TD Bank favorably against Bank of America as a long-term investment this week. But the bank is still digging out from problems that include $3.1 billion in money laundering penalties handed down by federal regulators last year.

The banking sector does not pay tariffs directly, but it is susceptible to them because they lead consumers and companies to pull back on borrowing, The Wall Street Journal noted. TD Bank stock dropped nearly 5 percent between the close of the market on Wednesday and the end of the trading day on Friday. Some banks had bigger immediate drops.

Unum

Maine workers: More than 2,000

Unum is in the disability and life insurance business, which JP Morgan has said is relatively insulated from the effects of tariffs. That's particularly true when you compare it with automobile insurers expecting to get hammered by rising costs of vehicles. Yet Unum stock still dropped by 10 percent, outpacing the 6 percent drop in the S&P 500.