PARIS (Reuters) - Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares on Monday declined to rule out job cuts and said keeping up with Chinese competition and staying profitable would require a huge effort, potentially including plant closures or offloading brands.

"We will need to make big efforts", Tavares told French radio station RTL, adding that it was up to the conglomerate's customers to decide which brands had a future and which may be divested.

"It's the clients, not me, but there is no taboo."

Tavares also said the company's problems with the U.S. market, the main reason for its recent profit warning, should be fixed by the end of the year.

"It's essentially a problem of excessive inventories," said Tavares, adding: "I think I can safely say that the problem will be solved before Christmas 2024."

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume/Tassilo Hummel, Editing by Louise Heavens; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)