“The tariffs have doubled the uncertainty”: Australian channel leaders react to Trump’s tariffs

CRN Australia asks several channel leaders their thoughts on the Trump Tariffs.

As Donald Trump’s global tariffs are on pause for the next 90 days – or they may be reinstated beforehand – several Australian channel leaders reacted to the shock announcement.

Earlier this month, US President Donald trump unleashed a swathe of global tariffs that sent shockwaves across stock markets and the world. That may or may not have been calculated by AI.

He implemented a minimum 10 percent tariff on every country, including the uninhabited ones, which Australia copped.

The US president argued that these tariffs were introduced to combat trade imbalances. While Australia was slapped with the minimum tariff of 10 percent, but others, like Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia weren’t so lucky.

CRN Australia reached out to several channel leaders within the country to understand how the tariffs will impact them and their business processes.

Each response was mixed, depending on what area of the channel they worked in, some leaders believed that the tariffs won’t have any effect, while others aren’t so optimistic.

Here is what channel leaders had say about Trump’s tariffs.

“We’re keeping a close eye on this”

Chris Sharp, CEO APAC, Pax8 told CRN Australia that Aussie businesses should be mindful of the potential ripple effects across global supply chains.

“We’re keeping a close eye on this, and monitoring how these shifts could impact the partner ecosystems,” he said.

“These developments might even create opportunities for Australian companies to expand their partnerships and build more resilient supply chains and networks across the broader APAC region.”

Sharp highlights the importance of partnerships in these wobbly economic moments.

“In times of global uncertainty, it’s really the strengths of your partnerships that matters more than anything else. That’s something Pax8 has always worked to develop and maintain,” he ended.

“Trump's not hell bent on destroying the US economy”

David Dicker, CEO and chairman at Dicker Data told CRN Australia wasn’t as phased by the tariffs and doesn’t believe they will impact the distributor.

“I can't see any reason why they would impact us. I'm perfectly happy to be educated, but I'm unable to see any reason why,” he explained.

Dicker noted that if these tariffs impact Australia, everyone will feel the effects. He likened it to if the government put a tax or levy on anything else.

“We can't do anything about it, we can't run around and cry, it won't make any difference. We have to adjust. And this would be exactly the same, we have to adjust,” he explained.

Dicker is more empathetic towards Trump’s political plan.

“Trump's not hell bent on destroying the US economy. If they have Bernie Sanders in there, I can understand it. Trump's a nationalist, and America is a pretty nationalist country, and you can really understand it,” he said.

“The tariffs have doubled the uncertainty”

Other channel leaders believe the tariffs have added to the unknown. Jelaine Doncaster, head of channel sales at Nutanix said, “The tariffs have just doubled the uncertainty.”

Because of this uncertainty, Doncaster explained she is making sure her partners are taken care of.

“Uncertainty leads to not knowing the clear path forward. We need to double down on our partners even more,” she said.

“We need to double down on the enablement, the training, the campaigns that we're doing, we need to listen better to make sure that those campaigns really hit the mark. Everything we need to do better as the uncertainty rises.”

She added, “That's why I keep on saying to my team, it's critical that we do the best job possible with each partner.”

“Haven’t had any of our US partners bring it up”

Lorenzo Modesto, CEO at AWS ISV 6pillars.ai told CRN Australia that his partners haven’t mentioned the tariffs at all to him and his colleagues.

“We haven’t had any of our US partners bring it up with us, though I imagine that if there is an impact it will only surface once it hits partners’ bottom lines,” he said.

He noted that while there isn’t a direct impact on his business, there may be several other impacts.

“Some indirect impacts, include currency fluctuations due to erratic policy decisions and increased costs for US companies not directly related to our platform but still impacting their bottom lines,” he said.

There are also increases in costs associated with AWS such potential flow-on costs on hardware, chips, he added.

“Too early for us to know”

Ian Morris, ANZ channel director at Rubrik believes it is too soon to make a call on how the tariffs will impact the channel industry.

“It's probably too early for us to know the exact impact of what's going to happen. It's a bit of wait and see,” he said.

“From a Rubrik perspective we're a 100 percent channel organisation. Everything we do is through the channel. We're just committed to working with our partners and ensuring that our partners have success and are able to keep delivering what they need to deliver.”

“I genuinely don’t think there will be any impact at all”

Jarrod McGrath, CEO at systems integrator Smart WFM told CRN Australia, “I genuinely don't think there'll be any impact at all.”

He said it will be business as usual for Smart WFM and their customers. As Smart WFM integrates HR workforce management solutions, UKG, he said regardless of the tariffs, people still need to get paid.

“If anything, people are still going to keep paying people and at the core of our business, that's what we do,” he explained.

“Whether there's tariffs there, yes or no, it doesn't negate the need that all the employers in this country still have to pay their people what they're entitled to every week, fortnight or month.”

“I don't see any impact at all from it. None,” he added.