Maintenance Mindset: How industry is responding to Trump’s tariffs and the escalating trade war

Key takeaways

• Tariffs raise costs for U.S. manufacturers, emphasizing the need for reliable maintenance to minimize expenses and maintain operations.
• Companies should assess their asset portfolios to adapt to supply chain disruptions and emerging market opportunities caused by tariffs.
• Rising tariffs lead to cost increases; manufacturers must manage MRO stock levels and optimize procurement strategies to avoid disruptions.
• U.S. manufacturers should prepare for supply chain delays, especially for materials from targeted countries, and focus on supplier resilience.

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It’s only been seven days since President Donald Trump announced far-reaching new tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners. The announcement included imposing a 10% baseline tax on all imports and, at time of writing, a new blanket 125% tariff on all Chinese imports plus a separate 20% fentanyl-linked border tax, and a 90-day pause on additional tariffs for other countries. (China has responded with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods.)

These policies have the potential to impact global supply chains, including the market for spare parts. With COVID-driven disruptions still fresh in the memories of maintenance and reliability professionals, companies are already implementing strategies to ride out any new market-based disruptions to their operations.

Plant Services reached out to several industry leaders about their thoughts on the new tariffs, and well as how maintenance and reliability teams can help their organizations keep operating as smoothly as possible.

How maintenance and reliability teams can prepare to navigate new tariffs

Steve Bragg, CMRP, current Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP) chair and senior director of operations at Amentum, noted that tariffs will raise the cost of doing business outside the United States, “yet even firms that manufacture in the United States can be affected, since many rely on foreign parts and materials. All of this means that keeping current assets operating as intended becomes even more critical to minimizing costs. In this shift created by the tariffs, best practices for maintenance and reliability are extremely important in the overall business strategies of our industry partners.”

Dan Anderson, CMRP, current SMRP vice chair and director of business development for ReliabilityX, added that tariffs can provide asset managers with an opportunity to assess and adjust their portfolios, enabling them to navigate potential market shifts and take advantage of emerging opportunities. He noted that tariffs can also disrupt supply chains by increasing the cost of imported raw materials and critical spare parts. 

“In this environment, the importance of maintenance and reliability becomes crucial to ensure that existing equipment is running at optimal efficiency,” says Anderson. “Maintaining reliable assets simply helps organizations to manage costs, reduce risks, and adapt to these changes more effectively.”

Jeff Shiver, CMRP, founder and managing principal at People and Processes, Inc., recalls that in anticipation of tariffs following the November election, some companies in targeted industries chose to hedge their costs and output by building up inventories of raw materials and parts. Now, he says, “with new tariffs on the immediate horizon with little over a week’s notice, the opportunity to hedge has been eliminated.”

After the tariffs are implemented, says Shiver, “the obvious (effect) is higher costs for nearly everything over time. While some companies may absorb a certain percentage of the increase, ultimately, they will seek to maintain their margins and pass the increases on to their customers. Some who have not taken recent price increases will likely use the opportunity to gain a few additional percentage points, using the tariffs as justification.”

Sounding the alarm over long-term economic impacts

Rosemary Coates, executive director of the Reshoring Institute and president of Blue Silk Consulting, warns that “we are hurtling headlong into a global recession…starting with the United States. U.S. unemployment is way up after all the federal layoffs, and inflation is 3% already this year - have you been to the grocery store lately?”

She emphasized the impact of very high tariffs applied all at once: “Companies are starting to announce layoffs. Consumer spending is down. These are all hallmarks of recession. I cannot see how this 12-24-month period is going to be ‘short-term pain.’ The tariffs are going to result in a long-term decline in investment in America and a degradation of our standing in the world.”

Brian P. McGuire, president & CEO of Associated Equipment Distributors (AED), issued the following statement following President Trump’s decision on April 9 to pause many of the scheduled tariffs: “President Trump’s pause on his reciprocal tariffs provides an opportunity for everyone to reassess the situation. AED encourages continued negotiations that result in free and fair trade, and in long-term certainty for the equipment industry and our customers. The time is now for our leaders in Washington to focus efforts on enacting tax policies that incentivize capital investment and economic growth rather than imposing trade barriers on our key partners.”

Supply chain experts emphasize greater awareness from port to storeroom

When asked what changes to the supply chain U.S. manufacturers should be preparing for, given the new U.S. tariffs and the various responses from affected nations, Jason Manganaro, vice president of commercial technology (Americas) for SPARX Logistics explained “we are working with customers daily to determine how the new tariffs will impact their supply chains. While there are tried and true mitigation strategies that can help, in the short-term, manufacturers should prepare for delays and possible supply shortages, especially if they rely on materials from targeted countries and/or that fall under the new steel, aluminum, and derivative categories."

Sean O’Neill, chief technology & product officer at Syncron, thinks OEMs that are ahead of the curve, and have the right technology in place, will be able to ensure the continued availability of critical parts and avoid blanket price increases that immediately pass tariff costs on to customers.

“As maintenance and operations teams navigate the uncertainty of the tariffs, they should work with OEMs to understand the impact of these measures on their most critical equipment, get to know how each OEM is navigating the tariffs, and plan for the unexpected,” says O’Neill. “We see OEMs putting greater emphasis on their aftermarket operations as well, helping customers keep their equipment up and running.”

In the area of cost management, Andrei Quinn-Barabanov, the supply chain industry practice lead at Moody’s, says that U.S supply chain organizations have little room to maneuver, as tariffs drive prices and costs up across the board. “With their hands tied on rising costs, supply chain professionals should focus on R&R – reliability and resilience – of their existing supply base. Supply chain leaders can use forward-looking risk indicators to identify and collaborate with at-risk suppliers in order to enhance these suppliers' reliability and resilience.”

Jeff Shiver offered some tactical advice for maintenance and procurement teams wrestling with new supply chain realities, arguing that this event provides another justification for MRO store personnel to evaluate stocking levels and order quantities for optimization. 

“Recognize that many buyers of MRO parts and capital project materials have yet to see the supply chain availability return to pre-pandemic levels,” Shiver says. “Extended lead times and delays remain commonplace. Coupled with the disruption caused by cost pressures from the tariffs, I would evaluate MRO parts stock levels, especially for high-consumption items and critical spare parts. Of particular interest would be fostering relationships with domestic producers and suppliers who may have been overlooked previously due to cost alone.”

On the capital projects side, Shiver recommends defining material requirements and placing orders to avoid disruptions to project timelines. "Conversely, I also expect companies to stall spending on expansions that may run counter to the tariff's intent, allowing time for the impacts to become known," he says.

Finally, Manganaro reminds manufacturers to be aware of proposed federal policy beyond the recent wave of new tariffs. For example, if the Trump administration's proposed port fee-plan moves forward, “we believe it will cause major disruption at ports and terminals,” Manganaro says. “To navigate the extra cost, ocean carriers seem inclined to limit the number of U.S. ports their vessels call. This means more volume will need to squeeze through fewer destinations. Long-term, the industry could well adjust, but short-term, we anticipate equipment shortages and significant congestion.”

Note: Article was updated on April 11 with new tariff details from both the U.S. and China.