March 7 (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn said onWednesday he did not have any prior knowledge about PresidentDonald Trump's plan to impose import tariffs on steel andaluminum before he reduced his stake in crane maker Manitowoc CoInc last month.
Icahn called reports connecting his sale to the tariffsproposal "categorically untrue," and attributed the cut in staketo "legitimate investment reasons http://bit.ly/2Hbuo4z."
Last month, Icahn reduced his stake in Manitowoc to 4.85percent from 7.81 percent, according to SEC filings.
About a week after that, Trump said he would impose 25percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent on importedaluminum to make domestic production more attractive.
Shares of large steel and aluminum users in
Manitowoc's shares were down 2.2 percent on Wednesday. Up toTuesday's close, the stock lost 27.8 percent this year.(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in BengaluruEditing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)