Fortune<\/em> that if they know the rules, they can play to win, but they can\u2019t do it if the rules keep changing. So what on earth should they do now?<\/p>\n\n\n\nHistory can\u2019t tell us. The past six days of tumultuous tariff whipsawing are unprecedented in U.S. history. It\u2019s already hard to believe: Last Wednesday, President Trump imposed the heaviest tariffs the U.S. had levied since 1909, but only 12 hours later he \u201cpaused\u201d them, leaving a universal 10% tariff, except on China, which faced a 145% tariff. Then late Friday night the administration announced it was reducing the Chinese mega-tariff, at least for smartphones (including Apple\u2019s iPhones), computers, and other electronic equipment made in China. But two days later, it appeared those products would be subject to higher, unspecified tariffs. Trump posted, \u201cNobody is getting off the hook.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of yesterday afternoon, Trump was considering tariff exemptions for imported vehicles and parts. Tomorrow, heaven knows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Business leaders desperately need to make significant responses to this environment, but how? The environment changes profoundly by the day. As KPMG\u2019s U.S. supply chain leader Mary Rollman observes: \u201cAlmost every client I talk to has a war room. They get a team spun up, and the members have completely dropped their day job. Their job now is to watch the news and see what comes out next, and quickly be able to present to leadership.\u201d However, most are not actually rearranging huge swaths of their business. By and large they are \u201cworking internally to model options and scenarios but not making major changes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That stance is prudent but also a big problem. Every day that companies are frozen in place, the economy weakens. It\u2019s especially true now because adapting to a radically new trade regime will be a long-term project. \u201cThese are not short-term decisions,\u201d says Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of the Association for Supply Chain Management. \u201cYou can\u2019t redirect the entire supply chain in six months. These are years in the making.\u201d Yet companies so far can\u2019t even start that project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another problem: The administration is rapidly losing its credibility with business leaders. The longer the trend carries on, the more likely it becomes that companies will respond to the new environment slowly and timidly. As a result, economic growth could slow, setting off a self-reinforcing downward spiral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bottom line, companies are playing defense, not offense, and it\u2019s hard to win that way. Frustratingly, that\u2019s about all they can do. Maybe the best advice for business leaders right now? Watch closely, do little. The time for action will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com<\/em><\/p>\nThis story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\r\n
\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. CEOs have long told Fortune that if they know the rules, they can play to win, but they can\u2019t do it if the rules keep changing. So what on earth should they do now? History can\u2019t tell us. The past six days of tumultuous tariff whipsawing are unprecedented in U.S. history. It\u2019s already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":629,"featured_media":14774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Colvin","author_link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?author=629"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Good morning. CEOs have long told Fortune that if they know the rules, they can play to win, but they can\u2019t do it if the rules keep changing. So what on earth should they do now? History can\u2019t tell us. The past six days of tumultuous tariff whipsawing are unprecedented in U.S. history. It\u2019s already…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/629"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}