The Economy Is Slowing As ‘Companies Can’t Figure Out the Rules of This Tariff Game’

Across the country, trade and community leaders are still stopping their breath, waiting for another tariff-related shoes to fall.

At least this case is according to the beige book, on the economy released on Wednesday on the report of the Federal Reserve. The report collects interviews, anecdotes and observations of businesses and other leaders across the country. In May, it was discovered that the decision makers were still paralyzed about expenses and expansion plans, while they wait to see what would happen in the unpredictable tariff campaign of President Donald Trump.

The latest beige book said, “On balance, the outlook remains a little pessimistic and uncertain, relative to the previous report.”

Like the beige book of April, the report was shot especially about the business policy, with the mention of “uncertainty” and related terms. In South Carolina, a commercial real estate agent stated that deals for industrial facilities are falling.

The agent told Fed, “Companies freeze because they cannot detect the rules of this tariff game.”

The same uncertainty was stated in many areas and industries.

The Minnesota firm told Fed, “No one wants to spend money when a future is so uncertain,” A Minnesota firm told Fed, saying that the price uncertainty was “pushing the projects out of the budget” and was complicating the dialect.

In the Canasus City of Missouri, a manufacturing executive used a medical metaphor to describe the difficulty of making investment decisions in the coming years.

“Right now, we are working on triaies; we will worry about the diet and later exercise,” he said.

The report echoed the concerns of the fed officials and economists who have said uncertainty about the future of the tariff, taking a toll on the economy, as businesses delay in investing and keeping on work. The forecasts hope that the growth of GDP starts slowing down and uncertainty around them to grow as tariffs.