Georgia Chamber urges businesses to be 'proactive' as tariffs take effect

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Port of Brunswick

Credit: Georgia Ports Authority

Tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump have upended U.S. trade policy and created significant uncertainty in the marketplace. A new report by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce suggests that Georgia businesses and consumers may face higher prices as a result of these tariffs, but some domestic companies that compete with counterparts overseas could see their fortunes improve. Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, spoke with GPB's Peter Biello.

Peter Biello: Changes have been made to President Trump's tariff since the publication of this tariff briefing. So would any of those modifications change the conclusions that you reached?

Chris Clark: What we saw yesterday [Thursday] was a 90-day delay in many of the reciprocal tariffs. Obviously, the tariffs on Chinese goods and products remained high and actually went up. The 10% baseline tariffs remained into place. The threat of additional tariffs on pharmaceuticals, precious metals remained in place and expect those sometime in the next few weeks. So I think our report, which was really meant to help Georgia businesses maneuver through this very disruptive period, I think it stands. I don't think we change any of our outcomes or recommendations to our members. It's just constantly trying to keep them updated and the general public updated on both what the administration in Washington does, but also what other countries are doing in response as we move through the next 90 days.

Peter Biello: And the Georgia Chamber of Commerce tariffs briefing broke down how different sectors of Georgia's economy may feel the impact of these tariffs. So I wanted to talk a little bit about a few of those and wanted to start with agriculture since it's such a huge part of the state's economy. Georgia's a leading exporter of poultry, peanuts, timber, paper products. How might these tariffs impact Georgia's farmers?

Chris Clark: So I think from the agricultural standpoint, what we're most concerned about right now would be the reciprocal tariffs, and so hearing that some of those were canceled or delayed yesterday is obviously a sigh of relief to our farmers in Georgia. But that's what you're careful of. Listen, Georgia farmers are selling their goods and products all over the world. Between them and manufacturers, we're in 292 markets somewhere around the world. and so making sure that someone doesn't input another barrier to them selling pecans or peanuts somewhere i think is very important. And we did see that, right? We saw early, about a month ago, potential reciprocal tariffs would made it more difficult to ship Georgia peanut products — from particularly, from Fitzgerald, Ga. — around the world. And so that's been our biggest concern and remains there. Not so much in Georgia, but we've heard from other partners with ag states that have said farmers were delaying their plantings, but — until they had some clarity, they didn't want to lose their product that they would normally sell in an Asian market or European market. Haven't heard that as much in Georgia, but I know that's on a lot of folks' minds.

Peter Biello: What about the steel and aluminum industry and the tariffs there? Would those tariffs be a good thing for Georgia steel fabricators?

Chris Clark: Well i think there's — there's two parts here. So we do have some steel fabricating, but when you look at them the manufacturing of those steel products, construction could slow down. Road building can slow down. Where you — we're importing steel, we're actually important concrete from all over the world. We don't have any concrete, uh — owned companies in the U.S. anymore. So there's lots of ways that this could be an impact. Do we think there's opportunities out there? Absolutely, and we're encouraging Georgia manufacturers to look into the state for some of the other fabricators, but when you start talking about those big steel mills, those big plants, most of those products are coming from overseas and could slow down product development. Construction, particularly, should continue to be a concern.

Peter Biello: And does a slowdown translate to higher prices for consumers down the line?

Chris Clark: I think so. I think we're already seeing some of that right now. I think you'll continue to see some of it. I think particularly in the ag space, if we're putting tariffs, we're seeing — if you're putting the 10% tariffs on all goods, and then — then you have to realize fruits, vegetables, things we might bring in from Mexico or from South America is going to be impacted immediately at the grocery store. But then a lot of the stuff that we order online, a lot of the goods and products in our retail markets are already going to see the 10% tariffs or the reciprocal impact of those to drive up prices. So I do think consumers are feeling that crunch and they'll continue to do so as we maneuver through this, you know, this tricky next 90 days.

Peter Biello: The Port of Brunswick handles a lot of imported vehicles. Would tariffs change what happens at the Port of Brunswick? And if so, how?

Chris Clark: Yes, I think there's two parts of that, right? So there's the immediacy which we're seeing: a huge increase in volume as, particularly, luxury automakers that aren't in the U.S. import more product into America to get it into the market before the tariffs go into effect. So you're seeing little bit of a boom right now. If these tariffs go into effect in 90 days, then you're not going to see as many Mercedes-Benz come through the port. And then likewise we send out a lot of what we build here in Georgia, whether it's in Savannah or — or West Point or in Tennessee with Volkswagen or Hyundai in Alabama. You're seeing a lot of those products be exported through the Port of Brunswick. And so if reciprocal tariffs go into place, we might not sell as many vehicles to Dubai or to other countries around the world. So yeah, there's a potential for an impact; I think more so there over the long term with these tariffs than maybe the port of Savannah, which I think is obviously is a more diversified port and doing extremely well right now.

Peter Biello: Your report advises Georgia businesses to take a quote, "proactive" stance in the face of these changes. What does that mean?

Chris Clark: I think you're seeing, particularly, large companies have been very proactive, right? They've read the tea leaves, they've heard what the administration has been saying since they came into office in January. And so they've stockpiled goods and products, they've brought in additional supply chains. Some have been thinking about this for years and have already reordered their supply chains. I think where it gets more difficult for the mid-cap size companies and small companies that don't have the capital to buy long term, maybe that are living month-to-month. They can't stockpile. They don't have that ability. So i think they're gonna they're starting to see the impact — that's who I'm hearing the most from right now. And so we're encouraging companies one, to be patient; think long-term, don't overreact, stockpile when you can, rethink your supply chains. And then for some companies that are operating — maybe they're manufacturing around the world, but they're selling heavily in the U.S. — they need to follow the lead of of dozens of other companies that Gov. Kemp's helped to recruit here and to open facilities in America. And I think that's where, you know, I think there are two potential positives through all of this. One is more foreign direct investment, and the second is to open new markets to Georgia goods and products and to our farmers.