Businesses in the UK and Europe have already prepared for shocks to US tariff policies ahead of a key ruling by the Supreme Court.

Though the decision has the potential to upend the White House approach to tariffs, Board Agenda’s The Macro Memo podcast heard that the US has already achieved its aim of reordering international trade.

Mark Kennedy, member of the group executive committee at Forvis Mazars, said the history of tariffs so far has prepared companies for upheaval.

“We’re moving to a multipolar bargaining framework, rather than a controlled framework,” Kennedy said. “Business have already adjusted their thinking to that,” he added. “And you can see that businesses are looking around things like their regional supply policies, they’re looking at alternatives and they’re looking at long-term sales strategies to see where their key markets are.”

Court ruling

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of tariff policies under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act early next year. Most close observers believe the White House is already working on alternative trade policies based on “sectoral tariffs”.

Tariffs are only one of the key issues affecting international business. The latest podcast episode also looked at the progress of artificial intelligence as a strategic tool and the impact of changing rules in the European Union on sustainability reporting.

On AI, and particularly gen AI and its variants, George Lagarias, chief economist for Forvis Mazars, said the benefits were yet to be seen and it fails to be monetised by most companies.

“The point we’ve been making at Forvis Mazars is that I think a lot of companies get the problem the wrong way round,” said Lagarias. He suggested companies often approach the technology by first asking how it can be used to save money.

“The best way to… is figure out what [a company] is trying to solve first and then apply intelligence and see whether AI helped to solve the problem in a more efficient way.”

Tune in to the latest episode of The Macro Memo Podcast, the global trends briefing for boards and directors, produced in partnership with Forvis Mazars. You can locate The Macro Memo on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The latest episode can be accessed below.