The Tariff Whiplash Game Continues

Here We Go Again

Just like that, the ground has shifted yet again on our nation’s tariff policy. And business leaders and communicators are back at the table trying to figure out what the latest changes mean and what effect they’ll have.

First, the Supreme Court struck down the president’s "Liberation Day" tariffs as an illegal use of emergency power. That move could return $175 billion to U.S. importers. But hold on. Because the very next day, the president announced he’ll be enacting a new 15% global tariff under a section in the Trade Act of 1974 that allows him to impose temporary import surcharges or quotas.

This, of course, raises a lot of questions for businesses of all sizes who import products or supplies.

Questions like:

How will this new tariff affect the cost of the products I sell?

Which products might be exempt?

Are the existing agreements negotiated under the previous tariffs still valid?

Is there a risk this new tariff could also be overturned by the courts?

Can I get a refund on the tariffs I’ve already paid, and how would that work?

Will other countries retaliate, and what kind of impact might that have on my revenue stream?

Tied to each of those questions is a communications implication.

Right now, your customers, clients, suppliers, vendors, employees, operational and legal teams – they all need accurate and timely information to do their jobs, to plan, to pivot and adapt.

Here’s my best advice for how to ensure your communications around the ever-evolving tariff issue are helping create clarity and help you manage your business as you navigate what looks to be at least four months of turmoil.

Think and organize cross functionally.

The tariff issue touches just about every aspect of your business. Logistics. Finance. Legal. HR. Government relations. Communications. Whatever team you designate to manage the issue should have representation from – or lines of communication into – the key decision makers in all of those areas. Their insight will be invaluable to assess how tariff policies are affecting specific functions within your organization – as well as the organization as a whole.

Be agile.

The tariff situation is ever changing. New wrinkles appear out of nowhere. And sometimes they come just hours or days apart. In an environment like this, you can’t be static. The plans you develop today may need to be tweaked or revamped tomorrow. And when that happens, it’s easy for heads to spin. Communicating what’s happening, why, and walking people through the potential repercussions of decisions you make is especially important during times of intense volatility. People need more communication the muddier a situation becomes.

Establish (or reinforce) a monitoring and feedback loop.

During an issue, communications shouldn’t just flow from the top down. To understand the true impact on tariffs – or any critical event – you need ground level intelligence from within your organization and a monitoring system in the outside world to alert you to developments, trends, and voices that could be early indicators of rising or changing risks. The last thing you want is for your triage team to be disconnected from important signals that they’d otherwise be blind to. Information should flow easily and quickly up and down your command chain. Another good way to prevent this from happening is to establish a weekly check-in.

Keep the lines of communication open with suppliers and vendors.

Your business is an ecosystem. And chances are a fair part of that ecosystem extends to external partners – who will have their own concerns and issues around tariffs that they’re also dealing with. You need to stay connected. Communicate often. Share intelligence. And maybe even work on coordinated solutions. Neither you nor they want a surprise. And the best way to guard against surprises is to be timely, clear and candid in your communications.

Be prepared for phases.

In these opening days and weeks, there’s likely going to be a torrent of information coming at you. The most important thing during the “fog of war” phase – if you will – is to parse out what’s true and actionable versus what’s conjecture and potentially misleading. Again, communications plays a key role. You’ll be analyzing a lot of information and keeping people abreast of what you understand about the situation and how it may be changing – and what your plans are for responding to it.

You may find that after a while things will begin to settle. There will be more knowns than unknowns to paraphrase an old Donald Rumsfeld quote. At this stage, it’s important to both clarify your positions and take a breath to assess the efficacy of the actions you’ve taken so far. To see if any plans or procedures you’ve initiated are working the way you’d intended, whether they need to be modified, and how you might communicate any further changes at that stage in the game. Communications doesn’t go away after the initial rush of activity. You need to play a long game.

Uncertainty may be the status quo for a while.

If you’re hoping to ride out this bump and get over it, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment or potential failure. This new version of the not-so-old, old tariff issue is likely to be a semi-permanent condition and not a temporary shock. You should treat it as such and make trade risk a standing item in your risk mitigation plan for the remainder of the year at least.