Tariffs now seen as permanent

American executives are no longer treating tariffs like a temporary policy swing. In a PwC survey of 633 United States executives, 86% said import taxes are now a permanent planning assumption. (pwc.com, finance.yahoo.com) PwC published the survey on April 13, 2026, after polling executives last month across consumer markets, industrial products, financial services, health industries, and technology, media, and telecommunications. In consumer markets, 88% said they had already baked tariffs into baseline forecasts. (pwc.com) That is a shift from the last tariff cycle, when many companies waited for courts, elections, or a new administration to unwind import taxes. Kristin Bohl, a PwC partner in customs and international trade, told Fortune that chief executives are now planning for tariffs to stay in place for years. (finance.yahoo.com, fortune.com) A tariff is a tax paid at the border when goods enter the country, and companies usually respond by raising prices, changing suppliers, redesigning products, or accepting lower margins. PwC said consumer companies that changed channel or fulfillment strategy, or reworked assortment and promotions, were more likely to report better cash flow or cost predictability. (pwc.com) The legal and political backdrop has also changed. Fortune reported that the Supreme Court struck down tariffs President Donald Trump had imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but Trump then imposed a temporary global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. (finance.yahoo.com, federalregister.gov) Section 122 lets a president impose a temporary import surcharge of up to 15% for 150 days unless Congress extends it. United States Customs and Border Protection said Trump’s February 20, 2026 proclamation set that surcharge at 10% on imports from all countries unless exempted. (uscode.house.gov, content.govdelivery.com) Older tariffs are still part of the cost structure too. The Office of the United States Trade Representative says the Section 301 tariffs first imposed on China in 2018 remain in effect, and Congress’s research service says those 2018 tariffs are still active. (ustr.gov, congress.gov) Washington is also relying on tariff revenue more heavily than before. The Congressional Budget Office said in its March 2026 monthly budget review that customs duties rose because of tariff-rate changes implemented in 2025, and Fortune reported that the office had projected more than $4 trillion in customs-duty revenue over 10 years before the court ruling. (cbo.gov, finance.yahoo.com) That leaves boards planning around a policy that may change in form without disappearing in substance. PwC’s advice to clients, as Fortune reported it, is to build tariffs into pricing, supply chains, and operating models instead of waiting for a reset. (finance.yahoo.com)