The Buzz: Walking and Talking the Tariff Tightrope
March 2025
A trade war is looming, and Americans are increasingly unhappy about it. “More voters than not oppose Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico (48% to 38%),” Morning Consult finds. This represents “a sizable shift” since the business-intelligence firm polled the American public on the issue in January.
“The bulk of the electorate (46%) supports Trump’s doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20%,” according to Morning Consult, “though that’s down from the 51% who supported 10% levies on those products” at the beginning of the year. Less than a quarter of voters say tariffs should be a “top priority” for the administration, though nearly half (45%) believe that it is. They want the president to focus on what they consider the most important concern — lowering prices — and they don’t believe the trade policies he supports will do so.
And, as supply chains are interrupted and costs increase, consumers will blame American companies — not as much as they will blame the administration (67%) and Congress (54%). But “one in three Americans will still hold companies accountable.”
So what are companies planning to do about it — or addressing the anticipated increase now? How are they responding? “Many organizations are keeping relatively quiet on the topic of tariffs,” Allison Carter writes on Ragan Communications’ PR Daily. They are “avoiding sweeping statements of support or opposition and sticking to cautious outlooks in earnings reports. Others are relying on trade organizations to make statements rather than sticking their neck out and potentially earning the ire of the president.” These trade associations are trying to play it safe, too. They’re “applauding Trump for protecting American workers, recognizing issues at the border, then pivoting with a ‘however’ to show the impacts on tariffs on the specific industry.”
While praising the administration for its concern for border security, Dave Puglia, president and CEO of the Western Growers Association, for example, points out that “rival growers of specialty crops outside of the U.S. will move quickly to seize the new business opportunities created by these tariffs to sell into the Canadian, Mexican and Chinese marketplaces. Their success in doing so could permanently displace American growers from these key markets.” The trade group implores the president “to use these tariffs in a strategic manner with an eye towards swift removal.”
More Blunt
Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, is more blunt: “If President Trump wants to win for Americans, he shouldn’t be taxing the steel and aluminum that the American defence [sic], manufacturing, aerospace and energy industries rely on. The only thing that’s ‘America First’ about these self-defeating tariffs is who pays first.” The steel and aluminum tariffs in the first Trump administration “have raised costs for American manufacturers and prices for consumers. Instead, by removing tariffs from these industries, the United States could finally benefit from the expected job growth and GDP increase that would come with less trade barriers. … Both countries do better when we work together.”
But there is also some support for the tariffs, from the Steel Manufacturers Association, among others. “The president is sending a clear message to our trading partners that it’s time to get serious about their trading relationships with the United States,” says Philip Bell, the group’s president.
Of course, as Carter reminds us, corporate “responses to tariffs are like icebergs. For every public statement, there are thousands of hours devoted to lobbying, supply chain work and contingency planning. So even though individual companies may be quiet on the surface, we can assume that almost every company has prepared a robust strategy for responding to tariffs on a logistical level.”
And, in this political environment, it’s a strategy that might need to change. The administration seems to be shifting its position from day to day, so don’t touch that dial.
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And, as supply chains are interrupted and costs increase, consumers will blame American companies — not as much as they will blame the administration (67%) and Congress (54%). But “one in three Americans will still hold companies accountable.”
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