European banks on track for worst day since August on tariffs worries

Shares in European banks fall on worries about tariffs on Europe after U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China took effect

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump floated a 25% tariff on cars and other goods from the European Union

The STOXX 600 banks index .SX7P falls 3.5% at 1332 GMT, on track for its worst day since August, and is among the worst performers of sectoral indices on the pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index

Julius Baer BAER.S, Credit Agricole CRAP.PA, Societe Generale SOGN.PA, ING Groep INGA.AS and BNP Paribas BNPP.PA slip between 2.1% and 3.4%, while Commerzbank CBKG.DE, UBS UBSG.S and Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE fall between 3.9% and 5.8%

Spain's Sabadell SABE.MC, BBVA BBVA.MC, Santander SAN.MC are down between 5.3% and 5.8%

"I think investors are concerned about the impact on the financial health of European exporters, given the looming tariff threat," Johann Scholtz from Morningstar says

Scholtz adds that this could lead to higher defaults on loans granted to exporters, across the eurozone but especially Germany could be hard hit

"They are the victim of the general weak sentiment or weak markets," Lukasz Janczak from Erste Group says