The addition of tariffs and trade barriers is the top concern of supply chain leaders, according to a survey of supply chain leaders conducted by software firm Descartes Systems Group.
Descartes’ 2024 Supply Chain Intelligence Report: Escalating Challenges for Global Supply Chain Leaders found that 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, closely followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%.
The software firm said that tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size.
Source: Descartes
The company added that the challenges mentioned in the survey “highlight the need among organisations involved in international trade to sharpen their supply chain analytics practices to help build more resilient supply chain networks, including having robust, technology-enabled insights to keep pace with frequent and complex tariff updates, quickly find new markets, secure better sources of supply and acquire timely and high-quality competitive intelligence”.
Jackson Wood, director, industry strategy at descartes, added: “Evolving tariffs and trade policies are one of a number of complex issues requiring organisations to build more resilience into their supply chains through compliance, technology and strategic planning.
“With the potential for the incoming U.S. administration to impose new and additional tariffs on a wide variety of goods and countries of origin, US importers may need to significantly re-engineer their sourcing strategies to mitigate potentially higher costs.”
The survey results come after incoming US president Donald Trump announced plans to implement tariffs of 25% on all goods from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% on imports from China.
There is also an expectation that he will also tighten up rules covering the import of e-commerce goods.
Descartes and SAPIO Research surveyed 978 supply chain intelligence leaders in key trading nations across Europe, North and South America, and Asia Pacific. Respondents are members of company leadership teams, from management level to chief executive or owner
Source: https://www.aircargonews.net/business/supply-chains/tariffs-and-trade-barriers-top-supply-chain-leaders-concerns-for-2025/
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