May 5, 2025
by Jake Ring, PDM Co-founder and President
The Tariff Wild Card
We’re not trying to give you whiplash, but the shockwaves from these initial tariff headlines are still reverberating-leaving businesses reeling with pain and uncertainty.
“Trump Unveils Sweeping Levies in Stark Shift in Trade Policy” Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2025.
“Trump threatens new 50% tariff on China on top of ‘reciprocal’ duties,” The Associated Press, April 7, 2025
“Trump’s New Tariffs Take Effect; China Retaliates,” Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2025
Unfortunately, we are only one month into this unprecedented global trade war and with no end in sight. However, we can share with you exactly what we communicated to our clients on April 4th, right after the first shoe dropped…
PDM Corporate Update: Tariffs
PDM believes in transparency, especially as the global economic landscape is experiencing a paradigm shift in trade costs. We proactively communicate about any developments that may impact our clients planning or procurement cycles. So, following last week’s news, our clients received a prompt email communication and an invitation to discuss strategy in order to keep projects on track, review budgets and assess project priorities.
Tariff Risk Management
Like you, we are focused on staying productive and resilient. So as a part of our risk management strategy, our contracts feature a dedicated “Taxes and Duties” section within our Terms and Conditions that allows PDM to adjust invoices to account for changes based on levies of this nature. Additionally, as we move forward, we are evaluating our options to legally mitigate the tariff impact, including onshoring production as we have done with our Medium Voltage Padmount transformers.
A Powerful Future
At PDM, our commitment remains unchanged: to deliver high-quality, mission-critical transformers and HV breakers with lead times that continue strengthening your position and flexibility on key projects. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with the power industry and remain fully committed to serving as a strategic asset for companies focused on building, expanding and modernizing.
Here’s to overcoming these challenges together and focusing on long-term success.
