CEOs Are Talking Tariffs. Here’s What They’re Saying

During the most recent round of shareholder calls, CEOs had one big question to answer: “What’s going on with tariffs?”

In earlier quarters of 2024, the focus was on inflation and artificial intelligence. But this time, the spotlight shifted. Shareholders wanted clarity on how tariffs might affect operations moving forward.

As you can see, 259 CEOs of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies spent time discussing tariffs on quarterly calls between December 15, 2024, and March 6, 2025.

Breaking down the data, CEOs at Materials (82 percent) and Industrial (71 percent) companies were more concerned about tariffs than CEOs at Financial (31 percent) and Communication (5 percent) firms. Interestingly, CEOs at Materials and Industrial companies were also less willing to give much in the way of outlooks for the balance of the year. 

I expect that tariff talk will ebb and flow for the foreseeable future. I also expect that tariff concerns might lead to supply chain issues, which may raise concerns about what’s available on store shelves, especially during the summer months. 

So while the stock market has rejoiced in recent weeks as tariff talks have progressed, I doubt we’ve seen the last of tariff-related volatility. So, it may be best to brace for more price swings and be surprised if we see less.  

^Source:

^{Insight.FactSet.com, March 7, 2025. “Highest Number of S&P 500 Companies Citing 'Tariffs' on Earnings Calls Over the Past 10 years.”}