K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Telecoms giants take contrasting approaches to Trump fair trade policies
THE LOWDOWN:
Two of the largest telecommunications companies in America, Charter Communications and AT&T, announced very different approaches to the fair trade policies coming out of the West Wing.
During AT&T’s earnings call, company leadership framed the Trump administration’s trade policies as creating “less visibility” and made a warning that the tariffs leveling the global economic playing field for America “could potentially increase the cost of smartphones and other devices as well as the cost of network and technical equipment.”
AT&T leadership also announced that “unfortunately, for the customer, we're going to have to come up with some new ways for them to figure out how to digest that increase in pricing.”
Conversely, Charter has taken a pro-America approach to the economic policies coming from the White House. CEO Chris Winfrey has emphasized the company’s completely U.S.-based workforce as well as the company’s commitment to buy American when possible at competitive prices.
The Trump administration’s trade policies have made a lot of news of late, and different businesses are rolling with the changes in different ways in their sectors. Telecommunications is one of these major sectors, and two of the largest companies in America, Charter Communications and AT&T, announced very different approaches to the fair trade policies coming out of the West Wing.
During AT&T’s earnings call, CEO John Stankey framed the Trump administration’s trade policies as creating “less visibility” while lauding the administration’s “goal of creating more equitable trade and improve domestic manufacturing capabilities.” Stankey also made a warning that the tariffs leveling the global economic playing field for America “could potentially increase the cost of smartphones and other devices as well as the cost of network and technical equipment.”
Later on the call, Stankey praised FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, saying the company appreciates “Chairman Carr and the FCC for their leadership to advance the tech transition and update requirements to better reflect today’s technology and competitive marketplace.”
Continuing in that spirit, AT&T leadership suggested in the earnings call that “unfortunately, for the customer, we're going to have to come up with some new ways for them to figure out how to digest that increase in pricing” — corporate-speak for passing the costs along to customers while blaming economic policies that benefit American consumers.
Conversely, Charter has taken a pro-America approach to the economic policies coming from the White House. CEO Chris Winfrey has emphasized the company’s completely U.S.-based workforce as well as the company’s commitment to buy American when possible at competitive prices.
Winfrey also recognized President Donald Trump’s leadership as an “important opportunity” to get America a fair shake on the international trade stage.
Winfrey said in a statement that Charter is an “American company offering services to more than 57 million U.S. families and businesses” and the company has a 100% U.S.-based workforce.”
“And so naturally, our preference is to buy American-made products when they're available and when they're priced competitively,” Winfrey said. “And stating the obvious, I think tariff imbalances are, by definition, unfair.”
“And clearly, President Trump has taken a strong stand, at least from the outside, that appears to be creating an important opportunity for other countries to lower their tariffs and eliminate trade barriers,” he continued. “And from our perspective, to benefit U.S. workers like ours and our U.S.-based customers.”
When costs go up due to natural disasters, trade policies, or logistical breakdowns, companies truly face a binary choice: whether to absorb the costs themselves or pass it along to the consumer.
America is seeing a stark difference between the two telecommunications giants in the face of international trade policy.