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Tariffs

How Are Distributors Combatting Higher Costs from Tariffs? Here’s What They Told Us

We polled nearly 300 distributors and manufacturers in early April about the methods they are using in response to a higher cost of goods sold brought on by tariffs. See our detailed breakdown of the results, including by revenue size, along with plenty of respondent commentary.

April 18, 2025

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Various tariffs implemented by the Trump administration have impacted nearly the entire U.S. wholesale distribution sector, with 99% of distributors in the 1Q25 Baird-MDM Industrial Distribution Survey indicating they expect a higher cost of goods sold (COGS) in 2025 vs. 2024.  The amount of that higher cost varies across the industry market-to-market and is dependent on companies’ product sources, but in aggregate,

71% of the 168 distributors we surveyed said they expect their COGS to increase by 1 to 10% this year

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