Over half of Midlands mid-market businesses have said that they expect to be directly affected ‘to a significant extent’ by the US Government tariffs, according to the latest survey from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO.
Its survey of 500 mid-market businesses conducted between 24 March and 2 April – before the US administration’s tariff announcement – shows that regional businesses were realistic about the possible impact of the policy change, with 54% saying they expected to be directly affected ‘to a significant extent’ while 46% said ‘to some extent’.
No respondents said they would not be affected.
Simon Bird, international tax partner at BDO in the Midlands, said: “Mid-market businesses in the Midlands have clearly seen the writing on the wall and have braced themselves for the impact of the US administration’s tariff policies.
“However, this doesn’t mean that they are all prepared. Some UK companies will urgently need to take proactive measures to confirm the correctness of their goods classification and to verify the true country of origin for the goods they export into the US.
“Supply chains can often be complex – for example, Chinese goods are often trans-shipped via other countries to the US but they remain of Chinese origin and would be subject to the tariff levels being placed on Chinese goods.
“Longer term, many businesses will need to consider supply chain and wider operational footprint changes – such as changing the territory of sourcing and/or the location of their manufacturing operations.”
