April 3 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor ( NSANF ) said on

Thursday it will not take new orders from the U.S. for two

Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, following auto tariffs levied by

U.S. President Donald Trump, in a drastic scale-back of its

operations at a joint venture plant.

Nissan ( NSANF ) also said it will now maintain two shifts of

production of the Rogue SUV at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant

after announcing in January it would end one of the two shifts

this month.

The Japanese automaker will not accept any additional orders

of the Infiniti QX50 and QX55 SUVs for the U.S. market produced

at the COMPAS plant it has run together with Mercedes-Benz

in Mexico. Nissan ( NSANF ) said production is expected to

continue for those models sold in other markets.

It was not immediately clear how much of the production is

sold in other markets. The two Infiniti models have only been

exported from Mexico to the U.S., according to data from

Mexico's national statistics agency.

A Japan-based Nissan ( NSANF ) spokesperson said on Friday the models

do go to other markets such as the Middle East and Canada, but

could not immediately provide more details.

Trump's 25% global car and truck tariffs took effect on

Thursday.

Nissan ( NSANF ) has been struggling in the U.S. due to an ageing

line-up and a lack of hybrid models. It is particularly exposed

to the new tariffs as it exports the biggest number of cars from

Mexico to the U.S. of any Japanese automaker.

Nissan's ( NSANF ) troubles led it to slash its profit forecast three

times in the financial year just ended and saw its debt

downgraded to "junk" status.

Its new chief executive, 46-year-old Ivan Espinosa, a

Mexican national who previously was its planning boss, has

pledged to drastically cut the time the automaker needs to

develop new cars.

Mercedes-Benz manufactures the GLB SUV at the COMPAS plant.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Daniel Leussink; Editing by

Chris Reese and Muralikumar Anantharaman)