Tariffs are here. Now what?

 Straight Talk with Brian Straight • August 10, 2025

Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of Straight Talk. Inside, we discuss:

• Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs

• The spaghetti model

• NextGen agenda revealed

• Most valuable automation companies

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Well, tariffs have arrived

       (Photo: Getty Images)

Well, tariffs have arrived. Technically, they have been here for years, but the bulk of President Donald Trump’s tariffs went into effect this past week. At least they were as I sit writing this, but as with the starts and stops we have experienced over the past six months with tariff implementation dates, things could have changed by the time you read this.

Fortunately, even if the situation has changed, the information here is still relevant. So as my daughter would say, “we’re good, right?”

Current state of tariffs

As of Thursday morning, widespread tariffs had gone into effect. In essence, every country has a 10% tariff, unless it has a higher tariff. Some countries have struck deals with the U.S. while others have not. Trying to track tariffs by country has been a challenge, and tariff rates can change quickly as evidence by Trump raising the tariffs on Brazil to 50%. The Trade Compliance Resource Hub has one of the best resources for tracking tariffs that I’ve found so far (they are likely others as well). The hub, located here, breaks down the tariffs by country, and includes links to relevant memos and additional information, such as tariffs on transshipments, and what happens to tariffs on that country if they purchase goods from Russia.

While many have pointed out that prices of goods have not risen in response to the tariffs already in effect, that will likely start to change now that widespread tariffs are in place. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that the small and/or temporary tariffs that have been in place have been cost-shared by supply chain participants. But, over the last few weeks, a number of companies have indicated in the Q2 earnings reports that they intend to raise prices of goods moving forward. Inflation, which has stayed below the 3% mark so far, could be on the rise if they follow through on price increases.

Responding to tariffs

Although the EU has chosen to delay implementing retaliatory tariffs after Trump and the EU struck an agreement (tariffs that Trump then threatened to increase if the EU failed to invest the promised $600 billion in the U.S., the impact isn’t theoretical. “The EU’s decision to temporarily suspend its countermeasures gives companies a short break, but the main issue remains: the U.S. is still applying 15% tariffs on many European goods exported to the U.S.,” said Vitaliano Tobruk, Moody’s supply chain industry practice lead. “Suppliers and their customers must continue deciding who will cover these extra costs and to what extent.”

Beyond costs, there’s the question of uncertainty—something supply chain leaders know all too well. Tobruk notes that the ongoing geopolitical and operational instability, Red Sea conflicts, and infrastructure constrains, is causing port congestion across Europe. “These issues are unlikely to disappear soon… and will likely continue to pressure supply chains through the rest of the year,” he warned.

Closer to home, Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Joseph Sarkis emphasized that supply chain managers are actively re-running sourcing models to evaluate supplier viability under the new tariff structure. “Managers will have to adjust the tariff parameters based on the material and source,” Sarkis said. “Companies will then have to determine how much a material or product is represented in their portfolio.” He also added that while reshoring could be a long-term consequence, it comes with cost and complexity.

What does this all mean for you?

If you’ve followed SCMR in recent years, you know this isn’t new ground—we’ve consistently tracked how companies are adapting their sourcing strategies, balancing costs with resilience, and increasingly incorporating tariffs into long-term planning frameworks.

I thought it may be worthwhile to provide you, if you haven’t already done so, with some of the articles we’ve presented over the past few years that address tariffs and disruption in supply chains. The articles include practical advice, risk management strategies, and supplier diversification approaches, that, while not specific to tariffs, certainly apply to the current environment. You can find more articles on these subjects at these links: Tariffs. Risk management. Supply chain transformation.

Want to dig deeper? Here are some of our most-read tariff strategy resources on SCMR Articles:

Strategies for supply chain derisking amid global uncertainty

From penalty to playbook: Making tariffs work for you

Navigating tariffs, reshoring, and the electronic supply chain

Understanding tariffs and their components

Building unshaken supply chains: A blueprint for economic resilience

Tackling tariffs with holistic thinking

Talking Supply Chain podcast episodes:

Talking Supply Chain: Oliver Wight’s Tom Strohl on finding success among disruption

Talking Supply Chain: The on-the-ground reality of tariffs

Talking Supply Chain: Navigating today’s geopolitical world

Goodbye chains, hello spaghetti?

       (Photo: Getty Images)

Kelly Barner, co-founder of the Art of Procurement, hosted Tim Richardson, founder and CEO of Iter Consulting, on her podcast last week. The key takeaway? Supply chains are no longer chains but rather spaghetti. Not literally, of course, but as Richardson explained, the supply chain of 2025 is no longer about minimizing cost, but rather it’s about “managing for resilience at a managed cost and at an acceptable cost.” Richardson told her the problem is that he has seen very few supply chain leaders that can operate at the strategic, C-suite level that is required today to understand the risk supply chains face. “Your risk could exist three or four tiers down in your supply chain, and you don’t really understand that,” Richardson said. In an unstable world filled with geopolitical tensions, conflict and war, and changing environmental conditions to name a few, the old supply chain strategies no longer prevail. Instead, supply chain leaders need to be flexible and able to bend and adapt their chains to meet the new normal. In other words, they need to be like spaghetti. You can listen to Barner’s podcast with Richardson here.

NextGen agenda reveal

Our NextGen Supply Chain Conference agenda is nearly complete. You can view the full agenda on the conference website at www.nextgensupplychainconference.com, but I wanted to share a few highlights with my loyal readers. I’m very excited with our keynote speakers. Uber Freight EVP and CTO Val Marchevsky will explain how logistics businesses can use AI to turn intelligence in action. On Friday morning, Dole Packaged Foods executives Todd Stillwell, VP-supply chain & manufacturing, and Kimberly Galante, head of product innovation, will show how Dole has transformed its supply chain into an engine for innovation and growth. And our Visionary Award will be given to Diageo, which is doing some amazing things with data and digitization in its supply chain. If you are not familiar with Diageo, you certainly know some of their brands, such as Captain Morgan, Johnnie Walker and Baileys among many others. We’ll also have speakers from a range of companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, C.H. Robinson, Kenco, Regeneron, Walmart, GNC, Kohler, Maersk, Kenvue and FedEx Supply Chain among the 50-plus speakers scheduled. This year’s event will take place Oct. 22-24 in Nashville. More details, including registration, can be found here.

What I read this week

When disruption hits, the companies best equipped to navigate the muddy waters are those that have planned for disruption … Q2 earnings for the major automakers showed tariffs took a $11.7 billion bite out of profit margins, and most predicting larger impacts in the coming quarters. … AI and automation are just two of the technologies shaping the future of global trade. … Unrealistic expectations are slowing the growth of Generative AI says a new Gartner report. … Trucking freight volumes increased in Q2 for the first time in three years says U.S. Bank. … Descartes has acquired Finale Inventory, an inventory management services provider, for $40 million. … NVIDIA tops the list of the most valuable automation and robotics companies with a market cap of $4.25 trillion.