Bernie Hart has had his hands full in the past couple of weeks amid the Trump-induced chaos around tariffs.
A vice president at San Francisco-based Flexport, a tech-powered shipping and logistics company, Hart has been in the industry for over 40 years. But this moment, he told Gazetteer SF Monday, is “really unprecedented.”
Last week, President Donald Trump announced a 10% universal tariff on all U.S. imports plus higher, reciprocal tariffs on imports from roughly 90 nations. The baseline tariffs went into effect over the weekend while the “reciprocal” tariffs, which includes a 34% tariff on imports from China, are set to go into effect on Wednesday.
“This is probably one of the most disruptive times that I’ve ever seen, including Covid,” Hart said.
Flexport provides more than 10,000 customers with logistics tools for ocean and air freight, customs, trucking, and fulfillment. Customers include companies like Bombas, Klean Kanteen, and Gerber. As Flexport leaders try to react to all the changes, Hart said it’s been all hands on deck. That’s especially true for Hart, who serves as vice president of customs and trade business development, and his colleagues who handle customs.
“The one thing is, supply chains continue to run, continue to move,” Hart said. “You’ve got stuff on the water, you’ve got stuff in the air. You’ve got stuff on a truck or a rail and then some of these procurement contracts that are already out there have been in place and been in play for months. All of that stuff is still coming in.”
Meanwhile, a lot of Flexport’s work right now is helping to keep customers informed, especially as countries start to announce their own reciprocal tariffs, Hart said. On Monday alone, several companies reached out to him, seeking his expertise on how the new tariffs will impact their imports.
“We’re doing a lot of that stuff now,” Hart said. “If you don’t know who your compliance people are in your company, get to know them. Buy them lunch. They’re usually very, very highly stressed right now.”
Hart has also encouraged businesses to track each import into the United States that is subject to the additional tariffs because they can change, Hart said.
“It could change tomorrow,” he said. “It could change in 12 months.”
If things to do change, Hart said, it’s possible that businesses could recoup tariffs they paid, he said.
In the last couple of weeks, the company has hosted webinars on tariffs, some with more than 2,000 customers as everyone tries to sort out just exactly what is happening, Hart said. The company has another one coming up on Wednesday.
Clients ultimately want to know if there is an end in sight, and what they can be doing differently or if there are any safe havens.
“And my answer to that is no,” Hart said. “There really is no safe haven out there and that’s why you have to keep running these ‘what if’ scenarios over and over again.”
