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Typical U.S. employers may be well-prepared for turbulence related to new trade tariffs.

Executives from benefits market and financial services players have given that assessment this week in conference calls with securities analysts.

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The first quarter ended March 31, shortly before April 2, when President Donald Trump began introducing, and changing, the U.S. rules for tariffs, or import taxes, and set off a period of increased volatility in the stock market and bond market.

Mariner Kemper, the chief executive officer of UMB Financial, a large regional bank, is one of the many bank CEOs who talked about commercial customer resilience.

He emphasized that it's too early to know for sure how the tariff situation will evolve.

But, at this point, "most of our clients are telling us they are currently able to pass on the cost of the tariffs and expect to do this in the short run," Kemper said. "Of course, the uncertainty increases the longer this goes on."

Powell Brown, the CEO of Brown & Brown, a big commercial insurance and benefits broker, also talked about a gap between different people in the economy see the current situation.

"I believe that, if you talk to people, just person on the street, they have a little bit more negative view of the economy than people that run and own businesses," Powell said. "I believe that, depending on the industry that you're in, depending on your supply chain, your view is slightly different and more moderated."

Pharmacy benefits costs continue to rise faster than medical insurance costs, and the "ongoing upward pressure and complexity of health care continue to drive strong demand for our employee benefits consulting businesses," Powell said.

Related: Willis Towers Watson sees tariff turbulence adding demand for health benefits advice

Chris Pyne, the executive vice president in charge of group benefits at Unum, said the company continues to see strong demand for high-quality employee benefits.

"Companies are really trying to go get the best talent, bring in top-quality people," Pyne said.

Unum has a "great pipeline" for employer plan sales, and employers seem to be especially interested in ways to improve leave management technology, he said.

Steve Nelson, president of Aetna, which is now part of CVS Health, said the company's commercial business has been performing slightly ahead of its expectations, mainly because of strong sales of fully insured coverage.

"That's due to really nice, disciplined pricing and great work on our trend, as well as better-than-expected retention," Nelson said. "We've seen some really nice wins there in incredibly competitive markets."

David Joyner, CVS Health's CEO, did not mention employer plan sponsors when analysts asked him about the possible impact of tariffs. He said he was optimistic about the merchandise CVS sells at the front of its drug stores because the company gets most of that from U.S. sources.

The backdrop: Executives' latest remarks seem to support what executives were saying about benefit plan sponsor stability earlier in the latest earnings release season.

Executives at Principal Financial have talked about seeing resilience at established small and midsize employers, and executives from companies like UnitedHealth and Elevance have focused mostly on concerns about government plans, not on concerns about the employer plan market.

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Allison Bell

Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.