The New Tariff Reality: Higher Costs, Less Certainty
A series of court rulings, new tariff authorities, and shifting trade agreements has created a constantly changing tariff landscape for distributors and manufacturers.
By Tim O’Connor Editor and Communications Manager
18 FEDA News & Views D
istributors and their customers are footing the bill for tariffs. Nearly 90% of tariff fees paid by importers in 2025 were passed straight through to companies down the supply chain, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That cost-shifting shows no sign of slowing as the federal government continues to seek new mechanisms to carry out President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Equally concerning, the same report found that 44% of manufacturers who paid tariffs directly say more price increases are still on the way. For foodservice equipment and supplies distributors, the new tariff
environment presents two increasingly familiar but still diffi cult options. Should distributors absorb the higher costs, or pass them on to customers, some of whom have already locked in budgets for equipment installations and other projects?
The stakes extend well beyond any single company’s bottom line. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy organization, estimates that tariffs imposed in 2025, combined with partial retaliation from some U.S. trading partners, will offset more than two- thirds of the economic benefi t of the tax cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The organization projects the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
