Every year, the team at Martyn Fiddler like to reflect on what happened that year, see if there is anything we can learn – or even learn to forget!
With this in mind, let’s have a look at our first theme to reflect on, and, yes, they are also another word that begins with letter ‘T’!
Trump Tariff Troubles
Tariffs: they have gone from ‘the ruination of the world as we know it’ to ‘another day, another tariff, no big deal’. Like the humorous politician who exhorts the public around election time to ‘vote early, vote often’, President Trump appeared to take the idea on board to have tariffs ‘early and often’. And then change them the following week. And the week after that,
There were more twists in the road than the Isle of Man TT circuit! And like a bike racer on the TT circuit, it was hard to keep up.
We started the year with zero tariffs for aircraft and aircraft parts first agreed under the 1979 civil aircraft agreement.
By w/c 28 July, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump reached a deal that reshaped tariff policy between the EU and the United States for a general 15% tariff to apply to most EU imports, but by 1 August, the tariff rate for aircraft and aircraft parts were afforded special treatment will return to zero.
Of course, this exemption did not extend to the yachting sector, and, of course, the agreement remains a ‘non-binding framework’.
However, things did not stop there. A new White House Executive Order imposed an additional 40% tariff on Brazilian imports, in addition to the existing 10% duty. However, aircraft and related component parts, such as those manufactured by Embraer, were not subject to the new 40% increase. Instead, they retain the original 10% tariff.
Struggling to keep up? So were we!
The Martyn Fiddler take on how to cope with the three ‘T’s:
Martyn Fiddler proposes adopting an adaptive strategy. What does this mean?
- Adaptive strategy means recognising that the only genuinely sustainable competitive advantage in a complex, changing environment is the ability to continually adapt.
- Traditional business thinking often mistakenly assumes a single correct strategy can ignore change or at least neutralise a changing environment by having the right strategy.
- Adaptive strategy differs fundamentally from common business cliches. Instead, it suggests the strongest competitive advantage any business can have is the capacity to adapt continuously.
- Adaptive strategy does not mean reinventing the business repeatedly. Instead, adaptive strategy is about rapidly building on existing methods to create results that surpass the original capabilities. When proven methods aren’t available, adaptive strategy results in rapidly discovering or developing new approaches.
If you would like to learn more about what Martyn Fiddler can offer when it comes to owning, buying, or selling high value assets, please contact hello@martynfiddler.com
