In her upcoming presentation at AIAG’s North American Customs & Trade Town Hall on November 6, 2025, at Elevate in Detroit, trade expert Cindy Allen tackles the turmoil caused by the new tariffs and leaves participants with a strategy playbook for moving forward. CEO and managing director of Trade Force Multiplier LLC and a 35-year veteran of the international trade community, Allen’s fast-paced look at the very latest trade and tariff actions through the lens of the automotive industry covers key developments, impacts, and what to expect next.
AIAG: You have an intriguing title for your presentation at the upcoming North America Customs & Trade Town Hall: “The Tariff Stages of Grief and What’s Next.” So what stage are we in now?
Cindy Allen: I think we're at reluctant acceptance. When the tariffs first came out, everyone was just in shock asking, “What is this? Why are we dealing with this?” And then it turned into disbelief. Once the shock wore off, we were all saying, “I can't believe that we have these tariffs — what do we do?” And then it turns into something closer to anger because you have no control over it. Now we're going into this reluctant acceptance that this is just the world we live in right now.
People were shocked that it happened at all because we've been such a free-trade-oriented society since World War II, and this is a fundamental change in the way we view things. Many experts are saying that this period is an anomaly in the history of trade — for most of us alive today, free trade is all we’ve ever known. It’s a fundamental change.
Then there's the fact that there's so much volatility. We have acceptance that there are tariffs, and then they change, and then they change again, and then they go up, and then they go down, and then there might be five new ones, and then no, not so much. So it's also dealing with an acceptance that there is no predictability, and how do you deal with unpredictable, uncontrollable environments? This is not something that is going to go away through negotiation. Tariffs are increasing across the board.
AIAG: What is your presentation focusing on? What can people expect to learn?
Allen: How can you deal with the new environment? What tools can trade professionals use? How can you effectively give information and assess what's going on and communicate up your supply chain? How can you advocate for your position and help your leadership understand the options? The main part of the presentation will answer the question: What do I do now?
It’s about strategic acceptance. I have an action plan playbook that I will share for dealing with these kinds of unpredictable environments.
AIAG: What keeps you up at night about the current trade environment?
Allen: What keeps me up at night is that there does not seem to be an overall view yet on how all these tariffs are impacting the overall economy — not just manufacturing costs, but consumer available cashflow and buying. It doesn't seem to be rising to the level of a call-for-action yet, so what point do we have to get before we determine if this trade approach is harmful and if it is achieving the goals that were intended? What does success look like in concrete terms? How are we measuring that, and who's measuring?
Companies are looking at the timeline and trying to figure out if it makes sense to move production to the U.S. or out of China to somewhere else. What are the factors that you really should be looking at —especially when tariff volatility is something that you cannot account for cost wise? It's hard to make a case that you should move manufacturing just based on tariffs alone. There have to be other factors that are compelling that move.
AIAG: When people leave your talk, what action would you like them to take?
Allen: I want them to come away with an outline of what they need to do for a trade strategy action playbook that can be used no matter what is going on. I want them to walk away knowing how they're going to deal with this moving forward. I want to make sure that they and their company have an approach that they can use right now.
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