Communications: Cutting Through the Noise

In the final installment of the Tariff Chaos mini-series, (dont worry, we have several other series coming up) Hammer & Heels (Renee & Julie) tackle the one thing that makes or breaks a trade compliance strategy: communication.

With tariffs shifting weekly, how you frame updates and who you deliver them to is just as important as the analysis itself. This episode dives into practical ways to avoid “tariff fatigue” while keeping your executives and teams engaged.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Identify Your Audience – Determine who needs tariff updates: executives, task forces, committees, or broader staff groups.
Set the Right Cadence – In today’s environment, weekly updates may be necessary to keep leadership informed and reduce uncertainty.
Engage Other Departments – Finance, supply chain, and other functions should be part of the conversation. Call out their contributions to strengthen alignment.

Julie’s FIO (Figure It Out)

👉 This week’s action item: Map out your comms path. Decide who gets tariff updates, how often, and in what format (newsletter, task force meeting, executive brief, etc.). Move from ad hoc emails to a consistent, repeatable approach.

Keep the Conversation Going

Join the Trade Geeks Community at Global Training Center and tell Renee & Julie:

What does your tariff communications path look like?
How are you keeping leadership and cross-functional partners engaged without overwhelming them?

Credits

Hosts:
Renee Chiuchiarelli – LinkedIn
Julie Parks – LinkedIn

Producer:
Lalo Solorzano – LinkedIn

Machine Operated Script:

You welcome back to simply trade tips with hammer and heels, or better known as Renee and Julie. As always, we’re going to leave you with a call to action, or what we also call fi Oh, figure it out Julie’s term in five minutes or less. So this is our last episode in the series of tariff chaos. We’ve done five previous episodes. One’s on tips for networking. Two is organizing the chaos. Three is tips for working in the sanity. Four tips for how to not waste a good crisis. That’s a good one, five, tariff globalization. And then, of course, today, we’re going to do six, which is tariff communications. So hello, Julie, how are you welcome?

I am good. Renee, so glad to be here with you today.

So let’s get into it. Um, tariff communications. What do you think we should tell our tell our folks?

I think kind of the first there’s kind of like a framing that you do when you’re communicating on tariffs. And I think the first path is you have to identify who you need to communicate with. So, um, so Renee, like, how would folks kind of go about that? Cons path, identifying who you need to communicate with and and how you need to

communicate. Well, I mean, I think step, a few steps would be like, Hey, do I have a committee or a task force? Do I have newsletters? Are there staff meetings I can join in? You know, do I have a direct line to some executive trade? You know, executive folks in the organization, right? And I

also think too on that making sure that your trade committee is engaged, or the people that you’re communicating with know that these communications are coming as well, will help them go a long way in interpreting what you’re saying. So the second thing is, is you got to understand how your audience wants to be communicated with. So what’s the cadence of your communications? So depending on who you’re sending the information to, it might be your your board to help them understand what the impact is of the tariffs. Renee any thoughts for folks on how they can work through that cadence.

I mean, with the tariff chaos that we’re in, I would, I mean, it’s probably like weekly. When you and I started in the business when we were young, maybe it was quarterly, maybe it was monthly, but, I mean, at this point, I think we almost have to do it weekly. It makes probably brings down the, what I call tariff fatigue, right? If you’re getting information weekly. Or, you know, especially your executive leadership is like, okay, they’re on it. They’re working on it. They’re keeping tabs, right? But, of course, it’s up to, you know, your company culture,

and I think, too, making sure that you put your ask in. So this isn’t all about. The global trade department making mitigations happen. Amazingly, maybe you want to call out and take the opportunity to call out other functional support mechanisms, like finances, supporting the value on steel and aluminum. Maybe, maybe you’ve got your supply chain department helping you with solicitations and qualifications for usmca or origin of aluminum and steel. So all those things, make sure that you’re getting other departments involved in calling them out. So today, our call to action, our figure it out piece is for you to take away and identify the comms path for your particular piece. So perhaps it’s been a very ad hoc maybe it’s been an email you want to think about, about identifying a way where it can be more consistent in a more standard form. So take that action, you guys. And I also think too Renee, maybe referring folks back to Episode Six, which is that I’m sorry episode five on the tear of chaos, just in general, to show the notes for all of the pieces that you guys can garner in your communications.

That’s awesome. Great points. Julie and by the way, get to our trade geeks community and let us know what you’re doing with your FIO. All right. We’ll see you next time. Thank you. You I

think.

There is always more to learn.

Do it with GTC

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