In the first of our special reports, we asked readers how global political and economic events had affected business; we discovered that while Trump’s tariffs were having an impact, they were by no means the only geopolitical trend affecting operations. Globally, tariffs (39 per cent) were pipped to the top spot by inflation (40 per cent) when readers were asked to list all global political and economic events that had recently impacted their business.

Across the different regions there was considerable divergence. Among FT readers in the UK, the top answer was “inflation” at 41 per cent with “Brexit-related trade or regulatory issues” at 36 per cent – more of an issue than the impact of US tariffs (33 per cent). It’s further evidence that, five years on from the UK’s departure from the EU, the country is still coming to terms with the consequences.

While Trump’s trade policies are clearly having an impact on FT readers in the Asia-Pacific region, half of whom cited tariffs as having affected operations, currency volatility was also a concern in the region, with 35 per cent citing it as an issue compared with just 16 per cent globally. The yuan, yen and Korean won have all moved against the dollar recently, leaving traders uncertain about what local companies will do with trillions of dollars of US assets.

But if the impact of the tariffs has been felt differently across the globe, there is near unanimity as to their effects: four out of five readers reported that Trump’s trade policies had negatively affected their business operations, with only 6 per cent noticing a positive impact. Further evidence, perhaps, that the FT editorial board is right to warn that US investors should beware of tariff complacency.

FT readers were fairly evenly split on when we might expect to see the back of hiked tariffs. Fifty per cent agreed with the statement: “tariffs will become a long-term feature of global trade”, suggesting that only half of readers agree with Tej Parikh’s prediction that Trump’s tariffs won’t last long.

When asked what strategic and operational solutions their companies are concentrating on, globally, 44 per cent of respondents reported that “managing increased costs” is a priority, rising to 48 per cent in the US and Americas. As Guy Chazan suggests, could Trump’s tariffs be impacting Main Streets across the US through rising supply costs?

While cost cutting dominated defensive strategies, most companies were also looking ahead. Four out of five readers reported that their company was looking for solutions in technology and innovation, with “strengthening cyber security and digital infrastructure” the most popular at 48 per cent. This widespread recognition that company defences need fortifying is surely a response to the surge in cyber crime, which is likely to be made worse by the spread of AI. 

And then there’s ESG. Once the darling of corporate strategy decks, it seems to be losing momentum. More than half of respondents said they weren’t actively seeking sustainability solutions. Are firms quietly declaring “mission accomplished” – or is ESG already sliding down the corporate to-do list?

Faith in the global economy has rebounded significantly since Q1 ’25 when 75 per cent of FT readers feared a decline over the following six months. In our most recent survey that figure fell to 52 per cent, with the proportion of respondents thinking that things will improve over the next six months up from 11 per cent to 23 per cent. Is this uptick in global positivity a reminder that, while the American economy may dominate the news cycle, the US doesn’t have a monopoly on wealth creation?

When asked about the changes they expected in their local economic conditions, there was a notable swing among FT readers  in the US and Americas with those expecting things to decline down from 73 per cent in Q1 ‘25 to 50 per cent. Doubtlessly, the resilience of the US economy is a factor, but is the stock market booming in spite of Trump’s agenda, or because of it?

There was also an upswing in optimism about the local economic conditions among FT readers in the CEMEA region where the proportion of respondents thinking things would decline was down from 45 per cent to 37 per cent over the same time period. Is this bullishness in part a result of the surprising resilience shown by European business?

When asked what changes they expected in their industry’s economic conditions over the next six months, 28 per cent of FT readers felt things would improve, 30 per cent thought things would decline and 42 per cent expected things to broadly stay the same. However, this fairly even split belies considerable divergences across the sectors. One of the headline trends is the ongoing cratering of confidence among FT readers in the tech sector in the Americas, where the proportion of respondents expecting an improvement in the short term was down from 71 per cent in Q4 ’24 to 21 per cent in our latest survey. How worried are they that Donald Trump’s trade war will hamper the US’s AI dominance?

A more buoyant mood was seen among FT readers in the energy/manufacturing/engineering (EME) sector in CEMEA where the proportion of respondents expecting an improvement in their industry’s results rose to 41 per cent, up from 32 per cent in Q1 ’25. How much of a factor is the European rearmament drive, which has seen weapons factories across the continent expanding at triple speed? 

And there were even green shoots of recovery in the historically pessimistic education sector. Sixteen per cent of FT readers working in education felt things would improve over the next six months, up from 10 per cent in Q1 ’25. This uptick in optimism among educationalists was particularly noticeable in the UK, where the percentage of respondents feeling upbeat about the immediate future rose to 22 per cent, up from 4 per in the first quarter of the year. Might this, in part, be a result of the influx of US students to the UK? 

In terms of company goals, one of the big stories is the steady march of AI up the list of priorities. When asked about their four most pressing company priorities in the next six months, 27 per cent of FT readers chose AI, compared to just 22 per cent back in Q4 ’24. In the finance sector this jump was even more marked: 33 per cent of readers working in finance saw AI as a priority, up from 23 per cent in Q4 ’24. Are some of these readers in agreement with Baiont founder Feng Ji, who contends that quant managers who don’t adopt AI will be eliminated by the market?

Another interesting trend was the dethroning of cost cutting as the number one priority – knocked off the top spot for the first time since Q2 ’22. The percentage of FT readers choosing it as one of their top four goals fell from 41 per cent  in Q1 ’25 to 36 per cent in our latest poll. This shift was particularly marked in CEMEA where it fell from 42 per cent to 34 per cent. Is this a consequence of the trend that has seen Eurozone inflation fall below target to 1.9 per cent?

When asked about their confidence in their company’s ability to successfully navigate the current economic and geopolitical climate, 75 per cent of FT readers were optimistic about the future, up from 70 per cent in Q1 ’25. However, there was considerable variation between sectors, with confidence among those in education and government/health/NGOs at 71 per cent, compared with 84 per cent among those working in finance. Were the optimistic financiers perhaps foreseeing the summer vibe shift for Wall Street’s deal-making community?

There was a small surge in positivity among FT readers working in professional services, rising globally from 73% in Q1 ‘25 to 79% in Q2, but increasing to 88% in CEMEA. Perhaps the recent findings from a study in Belgium has given Europe’s management consultants a shot in the arm?

When it came to business communication, “trust” (51 per cent) opened up a gap on “performance” (46 per cent) as the most important corporate message to stakeholders. But the big story was the jump in the tech sector, where 58 per cent of respondents had “trust” as a messaging priority compared to just 35 per cent in Q1 ’25. And in the UK tech sector, this jump was even more pronounced, jumping from 34 per cent to 67 per cent over the same time period. How much of a factor, we wonder, is the introduction of the UK’s Online Safety Act?