March 23, 2026- Once, about a year ago, a friend made the statement that the tariffs being instituted by the U. S. government would be more of a headache for foreign governments than for the average American citizen. I countered that we would all be paying more for imported goods, as no business absorbs added costs, without passing them along to their customers.

Fast forward to this month. Businesses, large and small, are indeed facing the effects of the whipsawing, now-you-see-it, now -you- don’t tariffs. The charges seem to be put in place on whim and are removed just as fast. I have no MBA, but I do know that businesses need to project their activities1-5 years in advance, and certainly concrete plans have to be 6 months to a year ahead. No business can operate like a game of whack-a-mole.

I have spoken, in recent days, with several people in medium-sized and large businesses. Some have only recently returned to work, after leaves of absence, of one kind or another. They have uniformly returned to a mess. Those working in their absence, essentially sat around drinking coffee or playing video games. Backlogs of 1-5 months have accrued, and in some cases, the staffers who were to cover the absent workers, up and left, without getting much accomplished. When pressed, the “deadbeats” said they were just overwhelmed by the back and forth of the US Departments of Commerce and Treasury,, Now, the returned workers are having to exercise the patience of Job, carefully explaining to angry vendors and customers that their services and invoices will be honoured. It will take several weeks or even months.

There is a reason why countries, in our increasingly interconnected world, are reluctant to charge tariffs: They invariably hit the consumer, or taxpayer, the hardest.