According to a recent S&P Global report, tariffs imposed by the US President Donald Trump have played an important role in driving the total global corporate costs up by a staggering $1.2 trillion this year. The report comments that the hike in global corporate costs is a mixture of tariff costs along with rising wages, increased energy prices, and faster capital spending on artificial intelligence (AI).

The study reports that a lot of companies are using prices of their products to reflect the costs they have incurred thereby adding to the inflation rates in the world’s markets.

S&P Global’s latest forecasts— which are based on an extensive study of almost 9,000 public companies— suggest that global corporate spending will be $53 trillion in 2025, which is a sharp increase from the earlier estimates made in January.

The report points out that while the AI investment boom is opening up long-term growth opportunities, businesses’ short-term cost burden due to trade policy changes and economic uncertainty is increasing.

Key Takeaways:

Global corporate costs will go up by $1.2 trillion in 2025.

US tariffs and energy price control are the principal factors.

AI-related capital spending is one other factor among the overall cost pressure.

To cope with the situation, companies are transferring the costs to consumers, which in turn, raises inflation concerns.