A year after President Donald Trump declared his “liberation day” and imposed sweeping tariffs on imports, kicking off a wave of economic and political uncertainty, some companies are still feeling the effects.
While some industries have emerged largely unscathed — having weathered twists and turns of several tariff iterations — others, such as retail, automotive, consumer packaged goods and pharmaceuticals, are navigating a new reality in global supply chains.
“Leadership at U.S. corporations really had to think about where we buy from versus whether we can import or not,” said Venky Ramesh, a supply chain expert with AlixPartners. “Around 80% to 85% of the costs were absorbed domestically, meaning either the U.S. corporations had to take the hit, or they passed it on to the customers, or a mix of both.”
On April 2, 2025, in the White House’s Rose Garden, Trump announced broad country-by-country tariffs, as well as a 10% baseline levy on countries that weren’t specifically listed in that declaration. Those tariff policies fluctuated wildly over the following months as Trump made deals and walked back some of the most extreme duties.
With ever-changing trade and tariff policies, companies have been forced to be more flexible and diversify their supply chains over the past year. Moving operations out of countries such as China, Vietnam or Mexico meant import cost savings, but for many industries, it was a tall task.
Ramesh said he saw clients in the first few months making “aggressive” changes to get ahead of the tariff costs, but because those policies kept shifting, companies begin to move slower and invest resources into scenario modeling.
“Moving supplier bases cannot happen overnight,” Ramesh said. “I think what companies are doing is they’re taking it gradually, so they want to make sure that they are well-diversified.”
On Feb. 20, the Supreme Court ruled that the country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or IEEPA, were unconstitutional. But hours after the ruling, Trump announced a new “global tariff” rate of 10% under a separate statute, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, for a period of 150 days. He later said he would increase global tariffs to 15%.
Meanwhile, those imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — intended to target specific imports that threaten national security — remain in place. Section 232 tariffs largely affected imports of steel, semiconductors, aluminum and other products.
Still, Ramesh said, overall imports into the U.S. in 2025 were actually higher than in the previous year, especially as companies pulled forward inventory in the first few months of the year.
Ultimately, he said, he believes the past year of tariffs has culturally shifted the way U.S. companies operate.
“The things that would stick are supply chain being a very, very critical component of any company. I think that has really changed over the last…
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