Trina Limpert

This post is written in partnership with Reuters Events: Supply Chain. Reuters Events connects the world’s most senior supply chain leaders through conferences, research, and digital content. Learn more: events.reutersevents.com/supply-chain/usa   When decisions cannot keep pace with change There is a moment most planning leaders recognise right now: A tariff announcement lands. A carrier pulls capacity. Demand accelerates faster than the forecast adjusts. The decision window compresses, and by the time there is confidence in the data, the cost of delay is already building. These pressures across supply chains are not new. What has changed is the speed at which conditions move underneath a decision, often faster than organisations are set up to respond. Customer expectations do not flex when supply does not. The cost of a wrong call, whether inventory in the wrong market, capacity committed too early, or service levels slipping before anyone flags them, compounds quickly. Most organisations have responded by investing. Better tools. More data. AI pilots. Network reviews. The core problem persists: decisions are still being made without full confidence. Planning and execution do not align when conditions change. In many cases, the issue is not disruption itself. It is how long organisations take to…

It’s safe to say supply chain podcasters won’t run out of things to talk about this year. With ever-evolving policies like the United States’ changing trade levies, experienced supply chain podcasts aren’t outlining podcasts, booking guests, or recording programs too far in advance. These days, material can be stale before it even airs! Trust Supply Chain Now to keep abreast of the very latest developments on the compliance and trade fronts to keep podcast listeners up to date. Tariffs: Keeping Up With Policy Shifts The United States’ trade relationships with many countries around the world have become rocky under the new Trump administration. At the time of writing, President Trump had imposed 25% tariffs on all products from Canada and Mexico. Canada immediately responded March 4 with 25% tariffs on nearly $21 billion of U.S. goods, with levies on another $86 billion of American products promised by March 25. Two days later, Trump suspended the tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico and moved the implementation date to April 2. The president also increased the tariff on Chinese imports from 10% to 20%. China retaliated with 15% tariffs on U.S. chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton and 10% tariffs on…