Some of the United States' leading corporations are resorting to very creative solutions to mitigate the huge financial losses they estimate await them down the road as a result of Trump's trade war against the rest of the world.
Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer and cloud computing firm; Toyota Motor North America in Texas; General Motors, the largest U.S. carmaker and Pittsburgh-based Alcoa Corporation, the world's sixth largest aluminum producer, are defending themselves in ways unique to their situations against the long-term effects of ultimately disastrous Trump's trade war.
Amazon, which relies heavily on goods made abroad (especially in China) to sell on the cheap, will be hard hit by Trump's tariffs on items sold through its website and components for its data centers. To counter these downsides, Amazon plans to launch industry-wide advertising campaigns and ramp-up its government lobbying.
Amazon has said Trump's tariffs will make many goods more expensive during the upcoming holiday shopping season. It's identified a wide range of items the tariffs will hit and is assessing the potential impact on its business.
Equally of concern to Amazon is the damage its cloud computing business will suffer from Trump's tariffs. The tariffs will increase import costs for components used in Amazon's data centers or other items that will make its cloud computing division less competitive.
Toyota Motor will take a hard knock if Trump goes ahead with his plan to impose tariffs on imported vehicles and parts. It flew workers to Washington, D.C. for a rally last week in front of the U.S. Congress. The company's CEO, Jim Lentz, met key members of Congress over the past few weeks to discuss the impact of the car tariffs Trump will likely impose.
General Motors has admitted it will be severely affected if Trump pulls the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), or if he imposes auto tariffs. GM said these actions by Trump will see "a reduced presence at home and abroad."
It's also held meetings with Congress and the administration over the last year to raise its concerns about these and related trade issues. As a further self-defense measure, GM has hired Everett Eissenstat, Trump's former deputy director of the National Economic Council and adviser on international economic affairs, to beat its drum to the administration.
Alcoa is the lead player in an industry that's been hardest hit by Trump's unnecessary tariffs on imported aluminum. Ironically, Alcoa isn't thrilled by the tariffs Trump allegedly imposed to protect it from foreign competition.
Alcoa now wants the administration to eliminate Trump's aluminum tariffs altogether or secure an exception for Canadian aluminum exports to the USA. Alcoa CEO Roy Harvey recently told investors Alcoa is in "active discussions" with the Trump administration, the Commerce Department and members of Congress to achieve just that.
Alcoa last week said it will incur as much as $14 million a month in extra expenses, mainly from tariffs levied on aluminum imported from Canada, its biggest supplier.
