Springfield chamber president: Local businesses ‘very concerned’ by Trump tariffs

SBJ file

Matt Morrow, president of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, says many local manufacturers bought up inventory in advance of new tariffs – in hopes of mitigating increased costs. He's shown above at the chamber's State of the State event last month.

Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce President Matt Morrow discussed the local business community’s reactions to Trump administration tariff policy at a roundtable event with local reporters today, held in advance of tomorrow’s Springfield Business Development Corp. 2025 Economic Outlook talk featuring remarks by Kathleen Navin, a senior business economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

“There’s just a lot of dynamism in the economy right now,” Morrow said. “That’s probably the cleanest way I know to put it.”

Morrow was referencing factors including Trump administration tariffs set to come online Aug. 7, including 15% tariffs on many goods from the European Union, a 35% tariff on Canadian goods and a 90-day extension to negotiate rates with Mexico.

Springfield Business Journal asked Morrow what local businesses are telling the chamber about their sentiments in response to Trump administration tariff policy.

"I would say it's pretty universal that that tariffs aren't good for business,” Morrow said. “So as a general rule, tariffs or other taxes that come on products and services that are related to business are a hurdle that has to be overcome. They're a challenge. They're a barrier. So generally speaking, increased, especially significantly increased tariffs, are not something that businesses look forward to, and they're nervous about.”

Morrow said that for local businesses, anticipation of new Trump administration tariff policy is having as much of an effect on decision planning as the actual policy itself.

“Businesses here and in other parts of the country, as well, haveseen enough of this tariff conversation telegraphed ahead of time that the first quarter [of 2025] saw inventories in the U.S. really swell,” Morrow said. “And we saw that with our local companies as well, where a lot of companies were buying ahead and building that inventory.”

Morrow said those stockpiled inventories “have come down quite a bit since then.”

With the caveat that “I don’t want to be a pretend economist here,” Morrow said he thinks companies’ efforts to buy up inventory early this year are a “pretty good explanation for why we haven’t seen what many anticipated would be as a spike in inflation that would come yet, at least.”

Still, Morrow said, there are “a number of businesses who are very concerned and nervous about this. And I would also say that if we don’t have, you know, quite a bit more clarity by early to mid-fall, it’ll really start to affect businesses more.”

Morrow defined “clarity” as federal authorities locking tariff deals in place with fixed rates rather than “kind of a moving target” as the Trump administration negotiates with international partners.He said as many reciprocal tariffs with other countries settle in around 15%, many businesses are looking for a “sweet spot” where they can adjust their practices to address new rates.

“There’s a sweet spot in there where you can probably manage it,” Morrow said, “and it's not going to cause enormous hardship on business, but we don't know yet. And what's most challenging for businesses is they don't they still don't know exactly where that's going to be. So uncertainty – that is the biggest hurdle to overcome. Permanent 50% tariffs would be a huge hurdle to overcome.”