Staying nimble in the age of tariffs

Company be nimble, company be quick — company is ready for the tariff stick.

• Remaining "nimble" — or some variant of the word — has been a popular response from companies in recent days when asked how they're preparing for President Trump's threatened tariffs. "Great question" has preceded more than one answer.

Why it matters: Trump's statements have kept trade partners guessing, perhaps intentionally, but U.S. businesses have been left guessing too.

The big picture: Most company executives have been answering the question of preparedness by discussing the state of their supply chains, their ability to shuffle near-term production and their room to pass through costs.

• But they're resisting any large-scale actions, saying they've gone as far as they can based on little information.

"We would never contend to be able to forecast exactly what this new administration will do," Brookfield Renewable Partners CEO Connor Teskey said this morning on the company's earnings call.

• Colgate-Palmolive today said it wasn't including any incremental tariffs in its 2025 guidance "until we get more clarity." CFO Stanley Sutula talked about "improved flexibility" in the company's supply chain over the past five years, and said it was looking at "tactical short-term, mid-term and long-term — if necessary — actions."
• General Motors said it could mitigate near-term tariff impacts through supply chain tweaks and moving some impacted production to domestic plants. "Many of these actions are no cost or low cost," CEO Mary Barra said Tuesday. "What we won't do is spend a large amount of capital without clarity."

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