Tariff turmoil: How Tesla and other companies are dealing with the uncertainty of the trade war

By DAMIAN J TROISE AP Business Writer NEW YORK AP Uncertainty over tariffs and an unpredictable commerce war is weighing heavily on companies as they analysis their latest financial results and try to give investors financial forecasts Related Articles The world s biggest companies have caused trillion in situation damage a new assessment estimates EVs tariffs in the spotlight as Chinese automakers take leading role at Shanghai auto show Ex-OpenAI workers ask California and Delaware AGs to block for-profit conversion of ChatGPT maker Wall Street leaps in a worldwide rally after Trump softens his tough talk on transaction and the Fed The European Union hits Apple and Meta with million euros in fines first under digital rules Specific tariffs remain in place against key U S trading partners but others have been postponed to give nations time to negotiate The tariff and agreement picture has been shifting for months sometimes changing drastically on a daily basis Those shifts make it hard for companies and investors to make a reliable assessment of any impact to costs and sales On Tuesday Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted he expects a de-escalation in the pact war between the U S and China but cautioned that talks between the two sides had yet to formally start Here s how several big companies are dealing with the tariff confusion Tesla Tesla is in a better position than the majority car companies to deal with tariffs because it makes majority of its U S cars domestically But it still sources materials from other nations and will face import taxes The bigger impact will be seen in the company s vitality business The company announced the impact will be outsized because it sources LFP battery cells from China The broader commerce war could also hurt the company as China the world s largest electric carriage sector retaliates against the U S Tesla was forced earlier this month to stop taking orders from mainland customers for two models its Model S and Model X It makes the Model Y and Model for the Chinese realm at its factory in Shanghai CEO Elon Musk an adviser to President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated that he believes lower tariffs are generally a good idea for prosperity But he added that ultimately the president decides on what tariffs to impose Akzo Nobel The Amsterdam-based maker of paints and coatings for industrial and commercial use noted the big threat from tariffs could come in the form of lower demand for its products The company noted almost all sales of finished goods in the U S were locally produced with the majority of raw materials locally sourced Over the years we deliberately localized both our procurement and production in the U S stated CEO Gregoire Poux-Guillaume in a conference call with analysts We also largely run China for China and use the rest of Asia instead as an export base The company s products range from paints and coatings for the automotive industry to the do-it-yourself homeowner Broader tariffs could squeeze consumers and businesses and hurt sales Boston Scientific The health device maker declared it expects preponderance of the effecs of tariffs to hit the company during the second half of the year but that it can absorb the impact The company raised its earnings and revenue forecasts for the year despite the tariffs It estimates a million impact from tariffs in but commented it can offset that through higher sales and reductions in discretionary spending The company announced it has a long-standing supply chain around the globe and has made major investments in the U S Boeing Boeing revealed much of its supply chain is in the U S and a great number of of its imports from Canada and Mexico are exempt from tariffs under an existing contract agreement The company does have suppliers in Japan and Italy but it expects to recover those tariff costs The net annual cost of higher tariffs on the supply chain is less than million A bigger concern is the prospective for retaliatory tariffs which could impact its ability to deliver aircraft China a key target for U S tariffs has retaliated in part by no longer accepting deliveries of Boeing aircraft AT T AT T like its peers in the telecommunications sector faces higher costs for cellphones and other equipment The company disclosed it believes it can manage anticipated higher costs based on the current pause in specific tariffs and its supply chain The magnitude of any increase will depend on a variety of factors including how much of the tariffs the vendors pass on the impact that the tariffs have on consumer and business demand declared CEO John Stankey on a conference call with analysts