ACCA: 67% of business leaders expect their trade volume to "significantly" increase in the next three to five years.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has released its latest report, which indicates that although 85% of respondents are concerned about the impact of tariffs on their businesses, company executives are more optimistic about the future. 38% and 29% of business executives respectively expect their companies' global trade volumes to "substantially" or "slightly" grow. The Association describes that despite the potential significant impact of the tariff policies of US President Trump on global trade, most of the surveyed business executives are optimistic about the future. In terms of opportunities and risks, half of the respondents believe that the primary opportunity is "utilizing technology (such as artificial intelligence) to promote global trade," followed by "achieving production, investment, or supplier location diversification" and "acquiring new technologies." As for risks, "geopolitical tensions", "international or domestic conflicts/wars" and "protectionist policies of advanced economies" are considered the three major risks. In terms of business costs, about 35% of respondents expect global trade changes in the coming years to increase their company costs by more than 10%, 46% of respondents expect an increase of up to 10%, 11% of respondents expect costs to remain the same, and only 6% of respondents expect costs to decrease. The Association points out that the fragmentation of the trade system may push up price risks. Meanwhile, due to major changes in US trade policy, the survey shows that 60% of companies have already relocated some production, investment, or supplier locations in recent years, and 61% of companies indicate that they may relocate in the coming years. The Association states that the survey interviewed 631 respondents from more than 50 countries, with CEOs and CFOs accounting for nearly 40%, and top management, including CEOs, CFOs, other C-level executives, and board members/non-executive directors, accounting for as much as 56%. Most survey questions received over 500 responses, with responses from CEOs and CFOs accounting for about 45%, and responses from top management accounting for nearly two-thirds of all responses. The majority of responses came from respondents in the UK and China, with approximately 240 and 60 responses respectively.