Geopolitical Insights for Communication Leaders in the Shifting Trade Landscape

With trade policy shifts already impacting global businesses, including the U.S. administration's recently coined "Liberation Day" tariff plan, the shifting landscape is creating immediate communication challenges. We're sharing critical insights from our recent Spring Seminar geopolitical panel to help CCOs navigate stakeholder concerns right now.

Our distinguished panel, featuring Kristin Silverberg (Business Roundtable), Fred Kempe (Atlantic Council), and Martha Delgado Peralta (former Mexican Under Secretary), offered valuable, prescient perspectives that will help guide Communications leaders in today's environment.

This Administration Treats Trade Differently

One of the most important insights for CCOs is the administration's fundamental approach to trade policy. As Silverberg noted, "What the administration has really leaned into recently is they want to use tariffs to try to correct what they see as some fatal flaws in the global trading system."

This framing is critical: the administration views itself as executing what Kempe described as a "revolution" in global trade frameworks, questioning foundational systems established after World War II. For CCOs, this means preparing stakeholders for potential structural rather than temporary changes.

Four Key Communication Strategies

How should communication leaders approach this challenging landscape? The panel offered several actionable insights:

1. Provide clarity, not alarm
   Fred Kempe advised that communications should "provide light, not heat," cautioning against knee-jerk reactions to each development. "If we responded to every X and every tweet, it would drive our staff crazy, and it wouldn't be useful... to our readership, and it wouldn't be useful to our relationship with the administration."
   
2. Cultivate multi-stakeholder government engagement
   While public confrontation appears unlikely to yield positive results, the panel emphasized that administration officials are surprisingly accessible and receptive to business input.
   1. "We have found the administration so far to be very open to business visitors," Silverberg shared. "They want to hear, 'Okay, this is what this is going to mean for my pricing or for my supply chains.' They're good listeners, actually."
   2. For international members, Martha Delgado emphasized the importance of a coordinated approach, noting that American companies advocating for their own interests in their own countries, like Mexico, will likely be more effective than foreign government lobbying alone.
      
3. Diversify your advocacy channels
   Beyond direct administration engagement, Delgado highlighted the value of congressional relationships. She emphasized that regardless of party control, each vote in Congress can impact the policy landscape, making these connections particularly valuable in the long term.
   
4. Focus communication on concrete business impacts
   When addressing tariffs publicly, Silverberg recommended communications be "smart and factual" about focusing on concrete impacts for customers, pricing strategies and shareholder value.

Planning for Ongoing Disruption

The panel consensus suggests that organizations should develop robust capabilities for navigating trade uncertainty. Delgado advised that companies "embrace uncertainty as the new normal" while developing comprehensive scenario planning.

For CCOs, this means helping leadership teams communicate transparently about supply chain resilience efforts without creating unnecessary anxiety. As Silverberg noted, many companies are already focusing on "China plus one strategies" to reduce concentration risk while maintaining access to key markets.

We will be convening members in the coming weeks to further discuss these topics. Check out our events page to attend.