Tariffs seen as long‑term risk
Chief executives increasingly expect tariffs to persist beyond the current administration, shifting corporate planning from a temporary shock to a durable cost regime. A PwC survey reported this change in CEO expectations, while Treasury officials have suggested tools to reimpose tariffs could return in coming months and parliamentary research noted the administration’s policy rationale is coherent rather than ad hoc. ( )
Tariffs are moving from a temporary shock to a long-term cost in corporate planning, with most United States executives now treating them as a lasting feature. (pwc.com) PwC said 86% of U.S. executives now treat tariffs as a “permanent planning assumption,” and 65% still call tariff policy risk a moderate or serious threat. The firm published those findings on April 13 after surveying 633 U.S. executives last month. (pwc.com) That marks a change from waiting for relief after an election or court ruling. Fortune reported that PwC’s Kristin Bohl said chief executives are no longer planning around short-term tariffs. (fortune.com) The policy backdrop is still shifting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on April 14 that tariff rates struck down by the Supreme Court could return by early July through Section 301 investigations. (bloomberg.com) Bessent had already said on March 4 that a 15% global tariff would start that week under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and that older rates could return within five months under what he called more durable legal authorities. CNBC reported that the Supreme Court ruled on February 20 that the administration could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for those broader duties. (cnbc.com) For companies, the practical question is no longer only whether a tariff survives one lawsuit. It is whether sourcing, pricing, contracts and factory plans can absorb import taxes that may be reworked under a different statute and kept in place for years. (pwc.com) Parliament’s House of Commons Library said on April 14 that the Trump administration has imposed wide-ranging tariffs since taking office on January 20, 2025, and that the policy reflects a broader protectionist turn rather than a one-off measure. The briefing said a 10% tariff applies to most other United Kingdom goods entering the United States, while steel and aluminum tariffs reached 50% on June 4, 2025. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The same briefing said the United Kingdom and United States announced an Economic Prosperity Deal on May 8, 2025, to soften some of the impact. Under that arrangement, the United Kingdom could get the 25% steel and aluminum rate removed if it meets supply-chain security terms, and up to 100,000 U.K. passenger vehicles can enter the U.S. at a 10% tariff. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) PwC’s global chief executive survey points to the same pressure from another angle. The January 19 report said 29% of chief executives expect tariffs to reduce net profit margin over the next 12 months, while only 30% are confident about revenue growth this year. (pwc.rs, pwc.com) That leaves boardrooms planning for tariffs as a standing expense, not a passing disruption. The legal route may change again by July, but the business assumption has already changed. (pwc.com, bloomberg.com)
