A year ago, tariffs dominated conversations among business owners, the consultant wrote in a piece published Sunday. Questions about how levies would affect supply chains, pricing, and legal challenges were top of mind.
Today, most of those questions have been answered. President Trump’s tariff increases affected some businesses heavily reliant on materials from China and India, but most weathered the storm, the consultant said. Many clients “took the ‘tariff’ news as an opportunity … to increase prices even beyond the cost of the tariffs in order to tuck away a few extra dollars of profit,” according to the article.
Others waited for the legal process to play out. In February, the Supreme Court ruled that the president’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs was illegal. Businesses are now waiting in line for refunds, which the consultant said they will ultimately receive.
The administration this past week announced plans to assess new tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on 60 countries, including the United Kingdom, China, India, and Australia, for allegedly trading in goods that used forced labor. The tariffs are authorized under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
But the consultant said business audiences are largely uninterested. Asked whether the new tariffs would be a topic in an upcoming presentation to a packaging industry association, the consultant wrote: “Not really. Not unless I want to put everyone to sleep.”
The owners in the consultant’s audience are mostly profitable this year, the article said, citing a resilient consumer economy, continued economic growth, and customers who have been “conditioned to expect price increases.” Many are hiring and taking advantage of new tax deductions and productivity gains from technology and artificial intelligence.
Business owners have also seen the president’s decrees checked by courts and Congress, the consultant wrote. Trump has been struck down on foreign aid funding, birthright citizenship, national guard deployment, and other issues. “They expect them to be opposed, litigated and overturned,” the consultant wrote of the new tariffs.
“The king’s last tariff adventure had him illegally assessing tariffs, and because of the supreme court’s rebuke the palace is being forced to comply with the actual law,” the consultant wrote, adding that tariff refunds are flowing back to businesses, although not without some hiccups.
Looking ahead, the consultant noted that the Trump era is nearly half over. Any new tariffs can be easily overturned by the next administration, the consultant said, and there is not a single Democratic challenger who supports them.
The president has said his tariffs were successful, pointing to trillions in new investments, increased manufacturing activity, and gains in GDP and stock markets. Political opponents say they challenged the president and won. But the consultant said business people have moved on.
“All of that has changed,” the consultant wrote. “It’s apparent that, despite the protests and the rhetoric, the country still has no king. We just have a president and his every move is scrutinized and held in abeyance by the courts and Congress.”