Recent U.S. tariff increases—especially those involving major trading partners like China—are sending ripples throughout the global mobility ecosystem. While much of the public conversation focuses on retail prices or industrial supply chains, mobility leaders are seeing the implications in relocation timelines, costs, and overall employee experience. Longer lead times for household goods, rising prices for appliances and construction materials, tighter customs enforcement, and broader supply chain congestion are reshaping how companies plan and execute global moves.
At the WERC Global 25 session “The Tariff Effect: Navigating Trade Policy in Global Mobility,” trade specialists, corporate mobility leaders, and relocation service providers examined how rapidly shifting trade policies are influencing mobility programs—and how organizations can better prepare.
Moderator Teela Gleason, senior vice president for global client services at Suddath, set the tone by underscoring just how quickly the trade environment is evolving. “As we prepared for this topic, I told the team we’d wait until the day of and crash course about what we’ll talk about,” she said. “Even today, there were changes announced. All of this is brand new and highlights how this topic continues to unfold.”
The panel brought diverse perspectives: corporate leaders managing large-scale moves, service providers navigating real-time freight disruptions, and teams balancing immigration needs, manufacturing timelines, and financial impacts of tariff-driven volatility.
Business Impacts Are Already Here
A live poll showed that while 28% of attendees reported no impact so far, 43% said they were monitoring potential implications. For many companies on the panel, the effects are already tangible.
Berna Anderson, director of global mobility at BD, noted, “We had to reduce our earnings forecast in May of this year. We had double-digit million-dollar expenses due to tariffs.” Operating within a medical device company with 70,000 employees worldwide, her team is seeing the downstream consequences as production delays and rising materials costs flow into mobility decisions. “That trickles down to mobility. More short-term assignments to bring knowledge transfer over. We’re seeing a drop in corporate functions, however.”
For Maryam Shahnazi, GMS-THR, immigration manager at Tenaris, a steel pipe manufacturer, tariff policy has fundamentally reshaped workforce strategy. “Our CEO said we needed to shift and become more of a U.S. manufacturing entity. Move 200 people to the U.S. and move them quickly.” The speed imperative has pushed her organization toward lump sums, even when they aren’t always the ideal tool. “There’s a big bulk of money, and they don’t know what to do with it. We’re trying to implement more of a supplier chain along with the lump sum.”
Mobility’s Role in Trade-Driven Decisions
As tariffs push companies to rebalance manufacturing footprints or accelerate knowledge transfer, mobility teams are increasingly pulled into strategic discussions.
“For me, when I first started, there was a lack of understanding why immigration needed to be involved,” Shahnazi said. “After that, immigration for me is at the seat. They are involving us, but sometimes they do have to meet without us. But they usually loop us in.”
Anderson added, “We’ve always been involved in group or bigger moves, but sometimes it’s in the middle of decision-making. We have been getting in more recently because of the U.S. immigration challenges.”
Supply Chain and Shipping Pressures Continue to Mount
On the service provider side, volatility is constant.
“When you’re shipping household goods, you’re at the mercy of the shipping lines,” said Freddy Paxton, chief marketing officer and senior vice president at The Paxton Companies. “It’s a living organism how things move around. When changes are thrown into an imperfect system, it makes it even more challenging.” He noted that tariffs introduce another layer of uncertainty, which can shift pricing and routing daily. “Last week, we had difficulty with China. Many shipping lines moved to the West Coast, so there was little availability to Europe.”
Gleason shared a recent example of blank sailings in Northern Europe that forced a month-long wait for the next available vessel. That disruption reverberated across corporate programs.
“In the general corporate side, the materials we need to build our devices are getting delayed,” Anderson said. “Production gets delayed. That adds cost. That trickles down to mobility.” As a result, her team is adapting where possible. “Sometimes it’s deciding not to ship … and sometimes it’s allowing more time for temp housing. The important thing is we have to be able to explain to the business why.”
Shahnazi echoed the need for flexibility: “Exception right now is the norm right now.”
Paxton noted that alternative modes can help ease pressure: “One of the solutions we found was to give options not just by ocean but by air. Working together, we can always get through this.”
Communication and Policy Adjustments Become Essential
When asked what advice they’d give to programs navigating tough conversations, the panelists emphasized communication.
Shahnazi: “Be transparent. Find ways to communicate.”
Anderson: “Overcommunicate to your business.”
Paxton: “Similar to COVID, making sure people are updated.”
The unpredictability of tariffs—and the operational challenges they trigger—makes it harder for standard timelines, budgets, and service structures to hold. Many mobility teams are now conducting internal impact analyses, updating policies with built-in flexibility, or generating new communication tools for stakeholders and assignees.
Looking Toward 2026: A Need for Agility
When asked to summarize their relocation strategy for 2026 in one word:
Shahnazi: “Creative.”
Anderson: “Agile.”
Paxton: “Problem-solving.”
Audience members offered their own list: agile, patience, nimble, proactive, fraught, resilient, flexibility.
In response to a question about silver linings, Paxton added, “Turning down the tariffs and saying they aren’t legal … [that will help us get] away from the uncertainty.”
Technology, AI, and the Search for Efficiency
As mobility leaders consider long-term solutions, technology remains a question mark.
Shahnazi noted, “For us, we haven’t implemented much with AI. The uncertainty about the data is what we’re worried about.”
Anderson added, “AI for us is just a ripple effect of everything. We’re getting pressure in the mobility function to be more efficient but I haven’t implemented anything yet.”
Paxton shared one emerging use case: “We just used AI for cost analysis,” though he noted that tracking remains inconsistent across carrier systems.
Moving Ahead in a Volatile Trade Era
Tariff-driven disruption will continue to shape global mobility into 2026. Costs, lead times, customs enforcement, freight availability, and assignment strategy are all being influenced by economic and geopolitical shifts. The panel’s advice converged on three themes: embrace flexibility, strengthen supplier partnerships, and communicate early and often.
As Gleason emphasized at the outset, the trade environment is changing in real time. Mobility teams that stay close to their partners, build adaptable policies, and keep business leaders informed will be best positioned to support employees and maintain program stability—no matter how the next set of tariff changes unfolds.