Trade issues, usually of esoteric interest to readers of the business pages, are increasingly and literally becoming front page news, most notably with the current US-China trade spat. Given this rather fraught backdrop, free trade proponents would have been heartened by the long awaited launch of the Asia Pacific FTA known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, just before the turn of the new year.
Protectionist trade policies are leading to shifts in country sourcing practices and investments in automation and technology to help keep goods moving and visible. And there is no reason to believe that in the coming twelve months we will see a waning of geo-political posturing along the trade front. As we move into 2019, there are six major areas of concern for anyone playing a part in global trade.
ARC Advisory Group 2019 supply chain trends of the year include: Global Trade and Tariffs; Logistics Labor Shortages and Automation; The “Digital Supply Chain” as the Logistics Technology Concept of the Year; expansion of Machine Learning and AI Enhancements. With taxes and duties accounting for a substantial portion of cost of goods sold, it is likely that companies will be reevaluating the impact on their global supply chains. Meanwhile, the “digital supply chain” is a conceptual umbrella term that will continue to be used to identify supply chain software, communications, and automation efforts that meet certain digital criteria.
The top supply chain stories of 2018 included trade wars, increasing logistics labor costs, natural disasters impacting regional and global supply chains, and omni-channel innovation.
The Massachusetts Export Center hosted its ninth annual Mass Export Expo on Friday, December 7th. Although the conference was regional in nature, the topics of discussion are currently of great interest to businesses across the country and even across the globe. There were a number of sessions on topics ranging from US-China trade, US economic […]
As U.S. importers, we live in interesting times. It can seem overwhelming just to keep up with what’s changing in tariffs, let alone know the full impact of those changes on your business. This quick summary brings you up to date on what’s happened in U.S. tariffs this year so far. It also provides ideas […]
Tariffs and duties and data – oh my. The need for digitization grows as importers struggle to mitigate the impact of shifting trade policy, demand fluctuations, compliance risks, and duty exposure. In an uncertain international trade environment, “trade war” has become a buzzword sending importers into a frenzy on how to prepare their supply chains […]
