It certainly seems like conversations around how tariff policy is going to affect both the markets and the U.S. economy as a whole won’t be slowing down any time soon.
Towards the tail end of September, President Trump announced a new round of tariffs on a slew of different goods. This included tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs, certain furniture, and heavy trucks.
These new tariffs have renewed the months-long debate over who really ends up bearing the brunt of the financial impact. Is it the foreign exporters, the domestic companies, or the American consumers themselves?
A recent Insights article, “Who Pays for Tariffs”, from the experts at BNY Investments, dove into this very topic. In the post, the BNY Investments team examined the impact of tariffs and why it’s been difficult to tell who will be most financially affected by them thus far.
Crucially, the BNY Investments article notes that part of the reason why it’s been difficult to tell is because the full impact of tariffs hasn’t begun yet. This is because many of the implemented tariffs are currently being paid at a lower rate than what advisors and investors would assume. BNY Investments explains that this lower rate comes from a few different factors, including timing delays, deferred payment plans, small-package exemptions, warehouse stockpiling, and more.
While it’s still far too early to have a final answer, the BNY Investments article assesses that tariff pressures were first absorbed by domestic firms, but are now beginning to be passed on to U.S. consumers. These findings are thus justified by the August CPI report, which came in 2.9% higher from a year prior.
Is It Time to Pivot to Active?
However, as BNY Investments noted earlier, we’re still in the relatively early days of examining the impact of U.S. tariffs. Things could shift as more tariffs are implemented and foreign exporters begin dealing with the full brunt of these tariffs.
As such, advisors and investors may want to look to add more actively managed funds to their portfolio. Active ETFs can provide more flexibility and adaptability to react and reposition based on changing market and macroeconomic conditions. This includes the BNY Concentrated Growth ETF (BKCG ).
Besides its active management, BKCG’s stock selection process might be able to help the fund better meet the moment. The fund’s portfolio team evaluates sectors that offer compelling growth potential across the next three to five years. From there, the fund uses fundamental analysis to find individual stocks with proven positions of profitability.
BKCG’s high-conviction growth strategy, buoyed by the flexibility of active management, has helped the fund post good results this year. As of October 31st, 2025, the fund’s NAV has risen 13.98% year-to-date.
For more news, information, and analysis, visit our Portfolio Strategies Content Hub.
