News / SMEs unwilling to invest in the US amid policy change turmoil

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Forwarders are growing increasingly concerned that the Trump administration’s tariff policy could lead to a shortfall in US investment by international small and medium businesses (SMEs), jeopardising the country’s long-term competitiveness.

While the government has scored big wins among multinationals, CMA CGM and Hyundai both announcing $20bn-plus investments for example, executive director of the Airforwarders Association (AFA) Brandon Fried said there was less action by SMEs.

He told The Loadstar: “The Trump administration has one goal in mind – to bring back US manufacturing. No matter what you read or hear, this is not going to happen quickly, and is going to require substantial investment.”

Asking the industry – and administration – to look beyond the multinationals, Mr Fried said it was important to consider how policy and practice was affecting the “small guy”, creating an “uncertain environment” for those with less capital to sink into projects.

“Is the small guy really ready to make investment in this uncertain environment, if money sunk into projects could be spent for nothing when admin changes policy by the minute,” he explained.

Of particular concern, he said, was the seeming readiness of the president to make a policy announcement, only for it to change in favour of a package developed for a country after bilateral talks.

Although such a situation would be damaging for a multinational shifting production into the US believing the move would be more cost effective, Mr Fried noted that for SMEs, such a shift could be “existential”.

The administration believes tariff policy has proved itself, with the president claiming some $17trn in new investment over his eight months back in office – but there are question marks over that figure, with reports suggesting it includes Biden-era commitments.

Mr Fried echoed the views of others The Loadstar has spoken with, that the administration appears to have forgotten about the viability of the domestic workforce. The AFA head said from what he could see, “no one was thinking about this”, adding that there had been an “oversimplification of bringing manufacturing back”, with no consideration paid to the US’s available talent pool.

This is an issue The Loadstar will be looking into, with a report on the H1B visa change.