It’s Not the Tariffs. It’s the Turbulence.
By Jessie Liu | Workforce Strategist | AI & Leadership Advisor | Human Systems Architect
When the U.S. rolled out sweeping new tariffs in April 2025, headlines focused on politics and market panic.
But behind those headlines was a quieter shift—one that matters far more to ANZ leaders trying to run businesses, support their teams, and plan for the future.
You see, this isn’t just a global trade story.
It’s a workplace trust story.
Because what shakes on Wall Street doesn’t stay on Wall Street.
It ripples through KiwiSaver balances.
Through consumer confidence.
Through team productivity and retention.
And if you’re a leader in Australia or New Zealand, your people aren’t asking for perfect strategy.
They’re asking you to help them make sense of what the hell is going on.
📈 What’s Actually Happening—Without the Jargon
The new tariffs are sweeping:
A 10% baseline tariff on all U.S. imports
Higher punitive tariffs on selected countries like China (34%), Vietnam (46%), Cambodia (49%), and others
Markets reacted fast:
Dow Jones dropped ~4%
Nasdaq fell nearly 6%
Retailers like Walmart and Target immediately warned of rising consumer prices
And here’s what’s most important for you:
🔹 Australia and New Zealand, while close allies, were still hit with a 10% tariff.
🔹 Major trading partners like Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and India are facing far steeper barriers.
Updated Tariff Overview (April 2025):
📉 The Downstream Effects — And What’s Coming Next
Research on tariff impact warns of four major ripple effects that ANZ leaders must now anticipate:
Job Displacement and Role Shifts
→ Reduced orders, shrinking margins, and layoffs in import-dependent sectors.Supply Chain Rewiring
→ Organisations must pivot sourcing strategies, increase supply chain transparency, and expect unpredictability.Automation Acceleration
→ To cut long-term costs, companies will fast-track AI and automation adoption — displacing traditional roles faster than expected.Workforce Mistrust and Morale Dips
→ Economic volatility creates psychological volatility. Expect rising anxiety, presenteeism, and disengagement.
🧠 How Your Teams Are Already Feeling It
Your people might not be tracking WTO reports or tariff schedules —
But they are:
Logging into their KiwiSaver apps and seeing red
Holding back purchases because they feel economically insecure
Slowing down innovation and risk-taking because uncertainty has hijacked their cognitive bandwidth
If you’ve noticed hesitation, silence, or fatigue creeping into your workplace — you’re not imagining it.
This is emotional compression, triggered by global turbulence.
And restoring confidence?
That’s your job now.
🛠️ What Your People Need From You
Not certainty.
Not a 20-page deck.
Just this:
Translate what the news means for them
Reassure without overpromising
Create a place where confusion isn’t punished — but understood as signal
You don't need to predict everything.
You just need to be the clearest voice in the room.
Tell them:
“You’re not wrong to feel uncertain. Here’s what we do know. Here’s how we’ll stay adaptive together.”
🔍 What I’ve Seen Work in the Field
At AI Learning Mentor, I work with organisations that don’t have time for hype. They want:
Reality checks
Tools that don’t overwhelm
Strategies that honour both data and human dynamics
The leaders succeeding post-April 2025 aren’t waiting for calm.
They’re helping their teams process turbulence without losing momentum.
Because this isn't just a strategy problem.
It's a trust problem.
And the antidote isn’t complexity.
It’s clarity.
📈 How We Move Forward — Practical Actions
Here’s how future-ready leaders are moving right now:
Monthly Economic Sense-Making Sessions
(20-minute check-ins that frame global headlines for the local team context.)AI Scenario Modelling
(Testing how supply, labour, and consumer behaviour might shift.)Training Middle Managers to Spot Early Signals
(Disengagement, presenteeism, fear-based resistance.)
Because strategy doesn’t live in the boardroom.
It lives in the micro-moments of your people’s trust.
🌟 Final Word: This Is What Real Readiness Looks Like
If your team feels tired, cautious, and distracted —
You’re not failing.
You’re facing reality.
Global policy shifts like these affect:
How safe people feel at work
How much innovation happens under pressure
How much momentum you can retain through the storm
The leaders who will thrive next aren’t the ones who predict perfectly.
They’re the ones who anchor trust during uncertainty.
That means:
Creating space for teams to process, not panic
Leading change with empathy, not urgency
Bringing clarity when the noise rises
You don’t need to predict the future. But you must prepare your people to face it together.
If you’re ready to build a workforce that stays steady and future-ready, I’d love to support that journey.
🚀 Book a consultation at chattify.org
#TradeDisruption #LeadershipResilience #FutureOfWork #HumanFirstAI #OrganisationalStrategy #OpenToWork
About Jessie Liu
Jessie Liu helps organisations build trust-first, AI-enabled, future-ready workforces.
Blending psychology, strategy, operations leadership, and human systems thinking, she partners with leaders navigating global disruption and technological transformation.
📩 Connect with Jessie on LinkedIn or book a consultation at chattify.org