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Nokia, poised to become the top global optical provider once their acquisition of Infinera is complete, remains excited about the U.S. market but one executive has growing concerns.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
A lack of predictability in the U.S. market is a cause for growing concern at Nokia, which is set to become the top optical provider globally once their acquisition of Infinera is completed later this month.
Yet, despite the unpredictability of tariffs and other policy announcements during the early days of Donald Trump’s second inconsecutive term as president, the firm remains excited about the U.S. market and what it has to offer, according to Brian Hendricks, VP of Policy and Public Affairs for Nokia Americas.
‘A sharp image of a fuzzy concept’
When describing the current state of affairs in Washington D.C., Hendricks said there’s “nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.”
He called Trump’s tariff tendencies “extremely difficult to predict” and said they could counterproductively impact stated policy objectives of Trump’s own presidency.
“Manufacturing coming back to the United States is certainly something we support,” he said. “We do manufacturing in the United States in a couple really important ways, including our new acquisition of the Fenix Group for tactical military radio.”
However, Hendricks said a lot of manufacturing will require a high degree of automation to justify various business cases.
“For that to happen, you need high-quality, reliable networks that are available with massive throughput, low latency, and high reliability,” he said. “And if it becomes difficult to build those, then you’re actually pulling both ends of the rope and making it very difficult to achieve your aims.”
According to Hendricks, difficulties could emerge if global supply chains are disrupted.
“It takes a long time to identify places where you will provide manufacturing and resiliency, and then you’ve got to overlay a quality program on top of it,” Hendricks said. “That is not stuff that can swing and vacillate at the drop of a hat, and all of those things end up in delays in product and higher prices in products.”
‘Not entirely convinced’
Hendricks said he is “not entirely convinced” that those considering new sweeping tariffs have thought through the collateral consequences of that decision “for even their own aspirations and agenda.”
Additionally, Hendricks said the lack of predictability is causing “a real bottleneck” for those who are excited about the U.S. market’s potential and want to make investment choices but are concerned about recent events.
“So, it’s counterproductive. I think that’s what worries me,” he said.
Currently, the United States has imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada (10 percent for energy) and Mexico, and a 10 percent tariff on imports from China.
The tariffs were imposed to “hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country,” according to the White House.
Critics meanwhile have said tariffs will drive up prices for U.S. consumers and have pointed out that only minor amounts of fentanyl, 43 of the 21,889 pounds of fentanyl seized by U.S. authorities in 2024, have been sourced from Canada.
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