Whirlpool Corporation stocks fell 15 percent to a two-year low after recently reporting a second-quarter net loss of $657 million. While an early supporter of tariffs, Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer said that steel prices are too high in the US and are resulting in inflationary raw material costs. He added that raw material costs along with unit volume decline and foreign currency volatility, which heightened since tariff announcements, contributed to the fall in second-quarter earnings.
The company stated in a quarterly filing that the new environment could “force it to modify its current business practices.” The Trump administration also established tariffs on imported washing machines to protect firms like Whirlpool early in the year, but Bitzer noted the increased costs from the Section 232 import steel tariffs and its effect on the global supply chain have had a higher negative effect.