As promo’s most influential figures converged on Chicago for PPAI’s North American Leadership Conference this week, the same topic loomed over them that had been affecting their business or their future plans for months now: foreign trade.


Those attending NALC had the opportunity to hear about the status of foreign trade from a partner at a leading K-Street firm. Chris Lamond is a co-founder of Thorn Run Partners, PPAI’s recent advocacy partner in Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, he participated in a Q&A to discuss what PPAI members should be looking for from the current administration going forward.

Below is a condensed version of that Q&A.

What is the administration’s goal in relation to these tariffs?

Chris Lamond: In their minds, it’s a rebalance of trade agreements throughout the world. It’s the president’s view, and his staff’s view, that the short-term pain will lead to the long-term gain of raising revenue from tariffs to use as government incentives to ensure domestic manufacturing. That’s the goal of all this effort. They really believe this will reimagine the way America will prosper and become a manufacturing giant.

You have to start there because it really colors everything that I think you’ll see for the remainder of this year and probably throughout the rest of the administration. This isn’t a short-term fix for them. Rates may shift, but this is what they believe in. This is their goal. They want to renegotiate every trade deal with every country.

The blanket 10% tariffs got criticism, but it goes back to this theory that we’re going to rebalance trade. We’re not going to allow China to ship around the world to get to the United States. We’re going to put a tariff on everybody and put that target back on China. I think we’ll always [during this administration] have that baseline 10%. It will be higher for China. It may go back and forth and bump around a little bit based on the president’s mood.

This isn’t a short-term fix for them. Rates may shift, but this is what they believe in. This is their goal. They want to renegotiate every trade deal with every country.”

Chris Lamond

Founding Partner, Thorn Run Partners

Given that the tariff reductions on China are only in place for 90 days, what indicators should businesses be looking for regarding whether they might be more permanent or another tariff escalation could be coming?

Lamond: My job is to work with the Congress and the administration the best we can to find out information before clients do, and make sure our clients hear it from me before they hear about it from the news. It’s really hard for me to do that with this administration. I’m supposed to never say, ‘I don’t know,’ but I don’t know more this year than I ever have in my life.

You have to operate as if this is the administration’s policy on trade. They believe tariffs are essential to raising revenue to be able to onshore that domestic manufacturing. This is just the way we’re going to be for the next few months.

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The de minimis rule is no longer in effect and now there has been the introduction of a $100 flat fee for small shipments. What effect do you see that having on the volume and velocity of small shipments from China? How should companies prepare?

Lamond: It’s interesting to see Wall Street’s reaction to this and what kind of effect they see it having on Amazon and other major retailers. They didn’t seem to have too much of a visceral reaction that it would be that impactful. Although, when you think of an online marketplace, a $100 flat fee for a package is pretty dramatic. So, I think it’s going to have a real impact.

This is another instance where the administration, the president himself, believes very strongly that this is something that should remain in effect, at least that it should be a flat fee. That’s not going away this administration.

Try to think ahead. Maybe alter the way products are shipped in to get around the individual package. That’s what Amazon is trying to do despite aggressive attempts to get that individual package tariff down to zero dollars.

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How did the changes in the trade landscape affect the conversations that took place during April’s LEAD event in Washington D.C.?

Lamond: We had a really productive session, set of meetings with the congressional leadership on issues that matter to us. It allowed us to talk not only about trade and other issues that we care about, but it really was a good way for us to explain how important our membership is to the economy in a different way. This was a different, unique way to really talk about how a public policy decision impacts your business and your employees in a different way. So, I think that was timely and impactful.

Let’s go back to the 90-day window that tariffs on China have been lowered. Are there specific legislative or regulatory actions we should be advocating for during this time to ensure more favorable trade possibilities?

Lamond: The most effective way that associations can impact policy issues is to remain in constant contact with the Hill. We had great meetings at LEAD. The next important meeting is to stay in front of them. The most effective groups will be the ones that are in their office on a regular basis talking about issues that they introduced. So, we have to stay in front of them, constantly creating excuses for us to talk about issues we care about, writing letters, sending out press releases.

Constant communication is critical for them to remember who we are and why we matter.