Trump's tariff back-and-forth keeps CEOs on edge

• The Supreme Court struck down one set of tariffs last week, only for the Trump administration to slap new ones on.
• Importers should generally see slightly lower duties, but CEOs aren't banking on big savings.
• Companies large and small say they're in wait-and-see mode while the changes shake out.

When the Supreme Court struck down a major pillar of President Donald Trump's tariff policy last week, "there were no big fireworks that went off" at Stew Leonard's, the New York-based grocery chain's CEO, Stew Leonard Jr., told Business Insider.

The retailer relies on international vendors for products such as New Zealand lamb and European wines and cheeses, and it has raised prices on items that were affected over the last year, citing import costs, Leonard said.

While eliminating tariffs entirely would have provided some relief for low-margin businesses like Leonard's, Trump immediately vowed to impose similar costs under a different legal framework.

By late Monday, a new 10% tariff was in place at US Customs and Border Protection, with talk at the White House of increasing that to 15% soon.

"The tariff thing you got to play almost day by day," Leonard said. "Even talking to our suppliers, if I asked them for any prediction, they have no idea."

Michigan State University supply chain professor Jason Miller told Business Insider that the new 10% base rate tariff represents a modest reduction in costs for some products, especially those from China, India, and Brazil, but that the 15% rate could end up being more expensive than some previously negotiated trade deals.

"We're back to this very elevated level of uncertainty, and that is going to again create questions for firms," he said. "Do they move ahead with courses of action, or do they pause?"

Federal investigations are also underway into other tariff frameworks that could result in even higher fees for certain items containing aluminum, steel, and other materials if the government decides to change how it calculates those rates.

"That is the big concern right now, but we don't know what that looks like yet," Miller said.

Companies are in a wait-and-see mode

Consumer companies' earnings calls this week included several new estimates of the financial hit tariffs have represented to their profits over the past year, but hardly any of their executives said they were immediately adjusting their strategies in response to the flurry of changes.

Footwear maker Steve Madden went further than most, opting on Wednesday to pull its financial forecasts "until there's more clarity around tariffs."

Jing Gao, founder and CEO of Fly By Jing, told Business Insider her Chinese food brand is still trying to understand the full picture of how it will be affected under the new (and changing) rules.

"It's important for us not to make major, potentially irreversible decisions without understanding the full landscape," she said over email.

In particular, she said she has no plans to shift the sourcing of her Sichuan chili crisp supplies to the US: "You can't grow these ingredients in America."

Another wrinkle for importers is that the law Trump is using for this latest round of tariffs (Section 122) has a 150-day limit, unless Congress extends it.

"The impact of the tariffs remains largely unchanged for now, but the 150-day countdown adds another layer of uncertainty," Gao said. "This kind of volatility is especially disruptive."

Weighing how (or when) to get money back

FedEx used the Supreme Court's decision to join the list of companies suing the government over the now-illegal tariff charges; however, the CEOs who spoke with Business Insider aren't rushing to get refunds.

Caleb Nicholes, co-owner of Wisconsin-based Wonderstate Coffee, told Business Insider his company paid $140,000 in tariff charges in 2025 before coffee beans received an exemption in November. (The new order excludes many of the same items, like bananas and coffee, that were previously exempted under the overturned rules.)

"These political experiments are having real-time implications on the sustainability of our business," Nicholes said. "We don't have a lot of room to play around with these kinds of $140,000 bills that are getting thrown around."

The Supreme Court's latest ruling gave Nicholes the opportunity to explore legal action, such as joining a potential class action lawsuit, to secure a refund of Wonderstate's tariff payments. It's a bureaucratic battle that could drag on for years, he said.

Not everyone is so willing to take on the government, especially if, like Stew Leonard, they have already found ways to mitigate those costs.

"We're just looking forward right now," Leonard, the grocer, said. "I wouldn't really look at waging a lawsuit against the government."