U.S. companies more confident on trade than global peers, HSBC says
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Containers and cranes at the Port of Los Angeles. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
U.S. companies are much more confident than their international peers about cross-border trade in the coming years, even with the uncertainty of tariffs, HSBC said Tuesday.
Why it matters: It's a sign that American companies have accepted and adapted to a new global trade order faster than competitors elsewhere.
The intrigue: AI adoption is driving some of that gap, HSBC executives say, as American companies take the broad shift in trade as a moment to invest in new technologies.
- "I do think the U.S. has that advantage," Marissa Adams, regional head of global trade solutions for HSBC, tells Axios. "We have the largest AI companies in the world."
- "There's a lot more adoption, and I think that nascent technology here, that corporates across the sectoral spectrum are really doubling down on."
- "I see that particularly in my role across Europe and Americas. It's a very different view here in the United States, which I think is part of that optimism."
By the numbers: 57% of U.S. companies are "very confident" about international trade the next two years, compared with 38% of global respondents, the HSBC Trade Pulse survey finds.
- The bank surveyed more than 6,750 companies active in international trade from 17 countries, including 1,000 U.S. businesses.
The intrigue: As disruptive as tariffs have been, it's been somewhat easier for American companies exporting than for foreign companies importing.
- 52% of U.S. businesses say they feel "informed and prepared" to handle trade disruptions, versus 36% globally.
What they're saying: "There's only so long companies can wait, and we are starting to see some of the corporates go, 'I'm going to make a decision that is based on long-term business trends rather than a specific trade policy,'" Adams says.
Friction point: Even as American companies express confidence in trade at a high level, they remain cautious in their decision-making, in part due to costs.
- 73% say they're experiencing more pressure on working capital, significantly higher than companies elsewhere.
The bottom line: Corporate America is feeling the effects of the trade war, but also trying to push past it much more aggressively than businesses in the rest of the world.
