In corporate suites around the world, executives are desperately trying to determine how their businesses will be affected and what they need to do in the face of President Donald Trump’s frenzied tariff barrage. As Trump’s trade wars heat up, bringing retaliation and threats of more, some companies are forming “tariff task forces” to count the potential cost of the levies and weigh the impact on sales, profits and market shares. The biggest challenge is also taxing but hard to put a price tag on: low visibility into the future. Read More: Trump Vows 200% Tariff on EU Wine, Escalating Trade Tensions With global commerce now almost inextricably intertwined, the outcome of any effort to impose tariffs has become incredibly hard to decipher. As the Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux told us, for a vehicle assembled in the US, parts can cross borders 53 times — making such levies a logistical nightmare. But even as the picture remains murky, companies are beginning to realize that sitting still is not at option. (Read the full story here.) Boosting US Output Drugmakers like Novo Nordisk and Eli Lily and tiremaker Pirelli are among several companies preparing to boost their output in the US. European auto-parts makers like Continental, Valeo and Schaeffler say they’re going to have to pass on the higher costs to customers. Carmakers like Stellantis and Volkswagen that face intense competition and overcapacity and can’t pass on the higher costs, are staring at potential hits to earnings. Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu are trying to find other ways to supply their customers in the US to try and mitigate the impact of the tariffs. The maker of Cetalphil skincare products, Galderma, is in a quest for other markets to offset some of the effects of tariffs. For the corporate world, it’s not easy trying to adapt to the new business reality Trump is shaping. “In a globalized world, the mechanisms are very complex,” Menegaux said. “If you start to put tariffs, it becomes very, very delicate to understand what are going to be the consequences.” —Vidya Root in Paris Click here for more of Bloomberg.com’s most-read stories about trade, supply chains and shipping. |