From all indications, uncertainty growing out of the blanket U.S. tariffs of 10% to 50% imposed on April 2 is adding unique risk exposure for global supply chains. Tariffs are often imposed suddenly, are collected immediately upon receipt of goods and are subject to ongoing volatility and negotiation. Retaliation invites escalation, with rates moving up or down and products added or subtracted. It’s complicated.

Freight shippers have navigated difficult operational, cost and capex spend calculations for more than a decade with last-mile e-commerce fulfilment, followed by COVID, followed by inflation and fears of recession. How do tariffs now factor into the risk equation?

A new survey of supply chain managers developed by SupplyChainBrain and Seagull Software, the Bellevue Washington-based barcode, labeling and supply chain visibility software provider, asks supply chain professionals about 1) their companies’ exposure to geopolitical, compliance and other risks in the new tariff landscape; 2) the importance of data quality and item-level traceability in managing those risks; and 3) their progress to date with adoption of technologies critical to actionable visibility.  

The survey, "Resilience in Uncertainty: Understanding the Impact of Tariffs, Geopolitical Risk, and Lack of Data Quality in the Supply Chain," reflects views from mainly vice president and director-level executives in sectors ranging from transportation and warehouse services to industrial manufacturing, to retail and consumer packaged goods. 

Among the findings:

Roughly three in four respondent companies are significantly impacted by geopolitical or socioeconomic disruption; only about half feel well-equipped to manage it.

A slightly higher overall share see significant value in maintaining high-quality data to drive decision making and item-level traceability to improve visibility; far fewer have those capabilities fully deployed.

More than a third complained of fragmented, siloed data, poor standardization and governance and manual data entry errors. 

Learn more about how supply chains are assessing risks versus cost in the tariff era.