After Donald Trump promised a 25% tariff against Mexican and Canadian products, CFOs who import and export goods from those countries are trying to figure out how to manage the risks under the president-elect’s system of tariffs-as-bargaining chips.

They have a lot of developments to keep up with. Trump recently expanded his targets for export duties to any country that drops the dollar as a reserve currency.

Regardless of where these negotiations land, here’s what CFOs need to know about how other countries are reacting (or plan to react) to potential tariffs.

(Uh-)Oh, Canada. First, our neighbors to the north. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pressed his country’s case at Mar-a-Lago in late November, the AP reported. With 77% of its exports going to the US and the country more reliant on trade than most countries, the stakes for Canada are incredibly high, but so far Trudeau’s government has taken a more conciliatory tone toward Trump’s proposals, trying to address his concerns and not highlighting the potential to respond with tariffs of its own.

Click here for more on how other countries are responding to possible tariffs.—GD

Lobbyists at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), which represents 597,000 finance and accounting professionals globally, have their list of priorities ready to discuss with the 119th Congress, which begins on Jan. 3, 2025.

Melanie Lauridsen, VP of tax policy and advocacy at AICPA, recently shared the organization’s 2025 congressional lobbying priorities with CFO Brew, and the focus is on tax policy tweaks, Internal Revenue Service funding, and disaster tax relief.

Taxman. Why not start with something universally loved and unobjectionable, like…the IRS? Gutting the tax-collection agency and rolling back IRS funding allocated in the Inflation Reduction Act are common rallying cries from Republicans.

Lauridsen said the IRA funding allocated for ensuring that large corporations and wealthy individuals pay taxes is “critical and important,” but so is improving service and technology. According to the IRS, the money it got from the IRA to help the agency maintain “an adequate level of service” will run out in 2026. If Republican lawmakers do opt to defund IRS enforcement, they should think about moving that money to service improvement and new tech instead of simply taking it all back, Lauridsen said.

“We would like to see a reallocation of that money versus a clawback of that money,” Lauridsen said.

For more on AICPA’s lobbying priorities, click here.—AZ

Some things just go together. Milk and cookies. Fire and ice. Macy’s and activist investors.

Barington Capital has secured a position at Macy’s, the struggling department store chain, and wants the company to cut spending and analyze its real estate portfolio, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Barington’s new position was revealed to Macy’s shareholders in a PowerPoint presentation.

That’s the fourth activist push at Macy’s in the last 10 years, according to CNBC.

Activist investor Barington, together with real-estate investment firm Thor Equities, said in a press release that the Macy’s board “lacks the knowledge, vision, and desire to extract maximum value from its real estate assets,” which the two groups estimate to be between $5 billion and $9 billion.

In addition to a proposal that the retailer create a real-estate subsidiary, the groups are also urging Macy’s to cut its capital expenditures to between 1.5% and 2% of its total sales (from 4% at present), as well as repurchase at least $2 billion to $3 billion in stock in the next three years. The groups also want Barington and Thor representatives added to Macy’s board.

To keep reading, click here.—NP

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