- The uncertain tariff landscape has companies across the board scrambling, with no way to plan for the future
- Certain tariffs are better than delayed ones because at least then companies can take action, PwC told us
- Frustration with the situation is starting to creep into earnings calls
Brace yourself, tariffs are coming. Then again, maybe they’re not after all. Who knows?! President Trump's wild vacillation on tariff policy has thrown financial and supply chain planning into chaos. And – believe it or not – the recent three-month tariff delay (which, surprise, may not end up being a three-month delay at all) isn’t helping matters.
To understand why, it’s important to understand how financial and supply chain planning cycles work. Budgets and purchase orders are set months, if not years in advance, especially in an industry like telecom where long lead times for equipment procurement are common. Thus, stable long-term policy is a boon.
But that’s not what they’re getting from President Trump.
“Companies operate on the basis of certainty. They don’t operate on the basis of temporary reprieves from a significant cost,” Dallas Dolen, Global Google Alliance Leader and TMT Industry Leader at PwC told Fierce.
“If they knew what the cost was going to be and it was certain, they’d actually be better situated to make a deal than they are right now because they literally don’t know what the cost is going to be," he continued.
Jack Gold, founder and principal at J. Gold Associates concurred. "Uncertainty is very bad for business planning in general," he told Fierce. "You can plan around diversity if need be (e.g., tariffs), but you can’t do any long-range planning if the tariffs may reappear at any moment or get cancelled at any time.
"The indecision is a real problem for companies trying to plan out a strategy," he added.
Feeling the heat from tariffs
According to PwC’s calculations, the total impact of tariffs (based on where things stood as of April 2, 2025) would result in an additional $311 billion in additional costs for the Telecom, Media and Technology market. That figure was up from PwC’s previous estimate of $118 billion that was based on the initial wave of tariffs.
With Trump now talking up the potential for “deals” with China and others, that forecast could again change in an instant.
Facing uncertainty about whether the cost of bringing components in might double, triple or perhaps not change at all, tech and telecom companies have been left to shrug their shoulders, Dolen said.
“We’re already seeing a slowdown, broadly speaking, in the way people are thinking about spending money in the next eight to 12 months, waiting out what happens from a deal point of view with tariffs,” he stated.
Frustration and uncertainty in the C-Suite
A bit of the frustration about the whole situation has crept into earnings calls, though executives have largely been careful not to criticize Trump.
During its Q1 2025 call, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg called tariffs “a little bit of a moving target,” adding “we don't know where tariff[s are] going to go.”
Similarly, AT&T CEO John Stankey said “the visibility is not great around what the future holds” for tariffs, though he backed Trump’s trade goals “laudable.”
It's 'hard to know what's happening on tariffs'
“It's hard to know what's happening on tariffs,” T-Mobile Consumer Group President Jon Freier recently told Fierce in an interview. “Things are changing by the day. What gets announced gets paused. Things are changing by the hour, it seems like on this topic, so it's hard to know where things are going.”
Meanwhile, telecom vendor Nokia said during its Q1 earnings call it expects an impact of 20-30 million euros in its Q2 from tariffs, but did not factor tariffs into its 2H guidance due to the “volatility of the situation.”
So, how will it all shake out? Heck if we know. But we will be following tariffs and their impact on the tech and telecom industry closely. You can catch all the latest here.