By Lucas Manfredi

President Donald Trump’s continuously changing tariff policies have introduced “a tenor of uncertainty” going into this month’s upfronts presentations, Paramount advertising president John Halley told TheWrap, complicating an already high-stakes process involving billions of dollars in ad commitments.

Multiple ad buyers have previously said they were taking a “wait and see” approach to the 2025-26 season, emphasizing how the economic instability caused by Trump’s actions could potentially add to the pressure faced by the declining linear TV business, which has already watched ad dollars shifting towards streaming services and tech giants like Amazon and YouTube.