Trump’s “chaotic” tariff rollout is stressing out businesses

Fortune

President Donald Trump's tariffs have become a massively disruptive feature of the U.S. economic landscape. To figure out how much they owe, companies need to know their way around an 18-pound book with thousands of rules.

Transcript

00:00Trump's recent executive orders on tariffs have produced a scramble in the business world

00:05because they come suddenly, and you have to adapt to them quickly, and you have to find

00:09out what day they go into effect. And that's not always clear. When you expand tariffs to

00:13a lot of countries where they didn't exist before, that's suddenly a lot of work and money.

00:24For businesses, it means a lot of paperwork,

00:26stress, and simply just keeping up on top in this landscape where tariffs are shifting quickly.

00:32They have to figure out if they're importing something, what the tariff rate is, and how

00:36they're going to pay it. In my reporting, I talked to lawyers and customs brokers, and all of them

00:41sounded a little bit stressed out, frankly, because the biggest challenge for them is simply trying to

00:46keep up. They said there's been a lot of people on the White House website all hours of the day

00:50trying to figure out what the given rules are and getting ready to spring into action with paperwork.

00:54I've heard from customs brokers and their clients who say the way the White House is rolling out

01:00this particular batch of tariffs is chaotic, frankly. There's a lot more of them than there used to be,

01:05and the way they're announcing them is somewhat willy-nilly, rather than sort of giving notice,

01:10providing a fact sheet, and rolling it out in an orderly way. And it's very hard for businesses to keep up.

01:15Do the things that matters?

01:17Well, I want to use them for a short time.

01:20You can certainly keep up with some of the members.

01:22People are paying attention.

01:23There is a lot more money.

01:25But, you know, they want to pay attention.

01:26They're paying attention.

01:27But, you know, they're paying attention.

01:29There are a lot of them.

01:31Now the public does not need to spend time time, but the public is offering staff

01:33to take care of themselves.

01:35You know, let's check out that you don't have time.

01:37Anyway, let's check out your medical or medical COA since when you're in the public.

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