Tariff Uncertainty Sparks Unease Among US Businesses

The White House’s tariff efforts continue to sow worry on both Wall Street and Main Street.

As Reuters reported Tuesday (March 11), President Donald Trump’s shifting trade policies have sparked caution among a range of businesses as consumers curb spending on everything from electronics to airline tickets.

The report also noted that while Trump has said his policies could cause pain in the short term, investors grew even more concerned after the president declined this weekend to say whether his policies could trigger a recession.

“The administration is saying this is a blip or whatever,” Byron Callan, managing director at Capital Alpha Partners, told Reuters.

“There’s maybe this willingness to just kind of punch through and try and prove markets are wrong. But that can carry a lot of risk … it’s the judgment of a small group of people against the judgment of millions of people.”

The newest tariffs — 25% on steel and aluminum imports — will apply to commodities from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and other countries. Trump said they will be applied “without exceptions or exemptions” to try to aid the struggling U.S. industries.

The president also threatened on his Truth Social platform to “substantially increase” tariffs on cars coming into the United States on April 2 “if other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada.”

Against this backdrop, recent surveys of businesses and consumers have shown a decline in sentiment, which could hamper investment and household spending, Reuters added.

“The mere risk of severe policy changes reflected by this uncertainty is enough to have an impact on the economy, even in the absence of any actual policy changes,” Rogier Quaedvlieg, senior economist at ABN Amro, said in the report.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown that more than half of consumers surveyed who were knowledgeable about the proposed tariffs said their finances would be impacted. Seventy-eight percent of those consumers anticipate having to pay higher prices, while 75% said they expected to see product shortages.

“What’s surprising is that this not-so-rosy sentiment is consistent across income, financial lifestyle (e.g., paycheck-to-paycheck versus not), and demographic cohorts,” PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote last month. “Most every consumer views the impact of the proposed tariffs as more negative than positive.”