Contracting season is underway, but the rules are still moving. Shippers are negotiating rates while tariff authority remains unsettled and regulators signal a more active role in global supply chains. That tension is shaping freight decisions across the market right now. Conditions favor shippers today, but policy risk continues to sit just offstage. Tariffs may ease or expand, and trade deals may eventually materialize, but none of it is moving fast enough to guide near term freight decisions. There are positive signals, but not enough certainty to anchor planning. In this episode of the Freight Buyers’ Club, Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor at the Journal of Commerce, and Lori Fellmer, VP of Logistics at BassTech International, break down how tariff uncertainty and contracting season dynamics are shaping shipper strategy heading into 2026.