Business Climate Survey. Section on the Current Entrepreneurial Situation. Q3/2025

In the third quarter of 2025, 14.4% of companies in Catalonia reported that they were affected by the tariff increase in the United States which came into effect in August. By sector of activity, industry had the highest proportion of companies affected by this measure at 32.2%, followed by trade at 14.9%.

As for concerns about the tariff increases imposed by the United States on products imported from the European Union and its new economic policy, 30.1% of companies said they were quite or very concerned about this situation.

In terms of the type of impact, 89.0% of companies which reported being affected by the US tariff increase mentioned greater business uncertainty, 63.7% said they had seen their costs rise, 62.8% had experienced reduced margins and 62.8% had noted falling sales.

In relation to the actions governments should take to minimise the impact of the tariff increase, the companies picked out three in particular: negotiations and trade diplomacy at the political level (bilateral dialogue and international partnerships to improve export conditions; 88.1%), encouraging local production (administrative and regulatory simplification, more training, more innovation, etc.; 87.4%) and cutting logistics costs (improving infrastructure and lowering customs costs; 86.1%).

If the European Union were to reduce tariffs on imports from the United States, 22.6% of companies said that their business costs would decrease.

As to the weakening of the dollar, 17.9% of companies reported that it had affected their business (9.3% negatively, but 8.6% positively). The industrial sector had the highest proportion of businesses affected at 39.1% (17.7% positively and 21.4% negatively).