During a Mettler-Toledo revenue call earlier this month, executives found themselves in favor of a series of questions on one important topic. It’s customs duties.
The Ohio-based industrial scale and experimental equipment had already opened the call by breaking down the expected impacts from President Donald Trump’s still evolving trade policy. However, when the event moved to the Q&A section, inquiries from analysts seeking more details on potential tariffs remained constant.
“Uncertainty remains in many of our core markets and in our global economy,” Treasury Chief Shaun Vadara said in a call on February 7th. “Geopolitical tensions continue to rise, including the possibility of new tariffs that are not considered in the guidance.”
The Mettler-Toledo experience was not unique. America’s biggest companies have accepted questions about how or how Trump’s promised salvo is promised on issues ranging from international trade to immigration and diversity.
CNBC analysis shows that multiple core themes related to Trump’s policy are manifesting in revenue calls for S&P 500 list companies in the growth in clips. Taxes are taken. Just a few weeks after the New Year, the frequency of revenue call words and their frequency has reached its highest level since 2020. This is the last year of Trump’s first term.
In addition, new acronyms and phrases such as “American Bay” and “doge” will be a way to these meetings as the business community evaluates what Trump’s return to power means to them. I found it.
Strangely enough, Trump himself did not mention these calls. Many uses of the word “trump” in transcripts reviewed by CNBC refer to verbs rather than presidents.
Still, the review of the Call Transcript shows how keywords tied to Trump’s policy quickly became commonplace. With the first revenue season of 2025 completed over 75%, comments give us an early glimpse into how these companies view the new administration.
Customs
One of the most talked about policy was Trump’s tariff plans. The president temporarily implemented a 25% tax on imports from Mexico and Canada into the United States, and subsequently postponed it. He also slapped China separately with 10% collection and imposed tariffs on aluminum and steel. He then discussed plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on other trading partners across countries on Thursday.
Tariffs are not a hot topic given the uncertainty. This topic came in over 190 calls held by S&P 500 companies in 2025, and is on track to get a better share in half of the decade.
It was frequently featured late last year when Trump returned to the White House. About half of calls that mentioned the 2024 word form came in the fourth quarter, according to a CNBC analysis of data from FactSet, a market research service.
“Tax studies were at the top of the list of things we’ve done,” Mary Mannen, CEO of Marathon Oil, said in the energy company’s February 4th revenue call. .
Several companies said they have not considered the potential impacts from these taxes in their guidance, citing uncertainty about what orders will actually be implemented. Others don’t know: In Martin Marietta’s source, CFO James Nicholas says that the benefits of the supplier will benefit or be hit by tariffs depending on what forms will ultimately be effective. He said it could be.
Generac did not calculate how these import taxes would affect future performance, but CEO Aaron Jagdfeld said that generator manufacturers are financed by reducing costs and increasing prices elsewhere. He said he was ready to reduce target hits. Camden Property Trust CEO Richard Campo said the company’s analysis would boost the costs of materials for Canadian and Mexican materials, as well as costs like timber and electric boxes. These comments support the idea that Trump’s tariffs could raise consumer prices and fan inflation.
Zebra Technologies CFO Nathan Winters said price increases will help reduce profit pressure. Meanwhile, auto parts manufacturer Borgwarner is forecasting a year of decline in demand in certain markets. This is attributed to the potential headwinds of these taxation.
Cisco’s R. Scott Herren agreed with other executives about the lack of clarity, describing the tariff situation as “dynamic” in a revenue call from a networking equipment manufacturer last week. Still, the CFO said the company plans to enable several variations of Trump’s tariff proposal, and expects costs to rise as a result.
“We’re planning some scenarios and procedures depending on what actually works,” he said.
Immigrants
Meanwhile, the topic of immigration has already gained the highest share since 2017.
During his time in office, Trump pledged a massive deportation of undocumented immigrants. Praise on immigration was a central element of Trump’s political message as he partially ran to “build a wall” between the US and Mexico for his first term. Critics argue that his plans could shock the labour market and lead to higher inflation.
CNBC data shows that immigration references tend to be etched into the first year of the new administration. But 2025 is beyond the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency and Barack Obama’s second term, highlighting Trump’s role in raising problems within American businesses.
Some companies grouped tariffs and immigration as drivers of broader unpredictability within the economy. Nicholas Pinchuk, CEO of Toolmaker Snap-on, described an anecdote of strong demand for repair services from clients, but said he was still stressed by the red flag in the background of the economy.
“It’s clear that technology is in a good position. But that doesn’t mean they’re immunized the macro uncertainty around them: ongoing wars, immigration conflicts, prolonged inflation,” and the pinchk said. I said that. “The election is in the rear mirror and new teams may be more focused on expanding their business, but there is a rapid fire in new initiatives. …It’s hard not to be unsure about what’s going on. is.”
Companies from various sectors asked what changes in the composition of the US population meant. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile all asked whether slowing immigration would damage demand for certain phone plans. Michael Manelis, operations chief for Apartment Manager Equity Residential, said increased lease breaks from tenants were not deported in response to immigration-related investigations.
In the Southern California market, Hamid Moghadam, CEO of property developer Prologis, said deportation could reduce the pool of workers and, as a result, raise employment costs in the region. That could exacerbate already anticipated pricing pressures if the Los Angeles community is restructured in the wake of last month’s wildfires.
Other companies argued that deportation would not create a labor shortage for businesses, as all workers are legally approved. Chicken producer Tyson Foods, one of such companies, said there were no factories visited by US immigrants and customs enforcement agencies or there were no declines in workers attendance.
“We are confident that we can make our business a success,” CEO Donnie King said on February 3.
Doge and the Bay
Topics that have gained new connections to Trump’s return to office are already beginning to emerge.
Doge – A new government efficiency acronym led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk – mentioned in more than 15 calls Friday morning. The division is wary of Wall Street as investors wonder whether contracts between public companies and federal agencies can help mask teams cut spending and get them on the chopping block.
The Iron Mountain mine, which keeps government retirement records, was torn apart as an example of inefficiency by musks during a visit to its oval office. But surprisingly, CEO Bill Meadey said that driving rationalization could actually benefit other parts of the business.
“We see this as an ongoing opportunity for the company as the government continues to drive us to be more efficient,” he said last week.
Palantir executives are also a defensive technology company that was the top performer within the S&P 500 last year, and are equally hopeful. Technology Chief Sham Sankhar described Palantia’s work with the government as “operationally” and “valuable” and hopes Doge engineers will “be able to see it for change.”
“I think Doge will bring meritocracy and transparency to the government. That’s exactly what we do,” Sankar said in a call on Feb. 3. “The commercial market is powerful and transparent and we can see the results we have in such an environment, and that’s the basis of our optimism about this.”
He noted some concerns among other government software providers, calling those contracts “the sacred cow of deep state” during the call.
Elsewhere, the so-called American Gulf was a point of divergence after renaming Trump’s executive order, which renamed what was long known as the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron repeatedly used the US Gulf in a call with analysts later last month. However, Exxon Mobil, who called out the revenues on the same day, chose to refer to the waters with the Gulf of Mexico instead.