Aug 14 (Reuters) - Farm-equipment maker Deere & Co ( DE )

reported a lower third-quarter profit and tightened its

annual profit forecast on Thursday, pressured by headwinds from

U.S. tariffs and muted demand.

Shares of the world's largest farm-equipment maker fell

about 4.5% in premarket trading.

U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs have impacted

companies across sectors, with the manufacturing and industrial

firms taking the biggest hit.

Global companies that reported between July 16 and August 8

have projected a combined financial hit of $13.6 billion to

$15.2 billion for the full year, a Reuters' global tariff

tracker shows.

Trump has said the tariffs are a response to persistent U.S.

trade imbalances and declining manufacturing power, and that the

moves will bring jobs and investment to the nation.

Deere has also been affected by declining crop prices for

wheat, corn and soybeans that are near multi-year lows in North

America, which has dented demand for farming equipment.

Farmer have also been gravitating toward renting machinery

to cut their costs, which has hit sales of big-ticket equipment

such as tractors and combines.

Deere expects its annual profit to be between $4.75 billion

and $5.25 billion, compared with its prior estimate of $4.75

billion to $5.50 billion.

"By proactively managing inventory, we've matched production

to retail demand," said Deere CEO John May.

Peer CNH Industrial ( CNH ) topped second-quarter earnings

estimates earlier this month, but warned that its annual sales

could drop below last year's levels.

Both Deere and CNH have struggled to keep up with the steep

tractor demand seen in 2022, when farm income hit a record high

and pandemic assistance payments gave farmers extra money to

upgrade their fleets.

Deere's net income in the third quarter came in at $1.29

billion, or $4.75 per share, compared with $1.73 billion, or

$6.29 per share, a year earlier.

Overall, quarterly sales fell about 9% to $12.02 billion

from a year ago.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)