The latest data pegs U.S. tariffs at roughly 22.5%. Highest since 1909. Some Chinese goods are getting whacked with 145% rates. And yet 95% of companies are still sourcing from China because what else can you do — rebuild your entire supply chain in Vietnam by next Tuesday?
Freight brokers know the drill — quote a rate Monday, find out Wednesday there’s a new duty (or post on Truth Social) that changes everything. Carriers are dealing with lanes that made sense last month but are money losers now. Shippers are asking for the impossible: same service, same price, different world.
Sixty-one percent of supply chain leaders rank cross-border trade tensions as their top geopolitical risk. No kidding. But some are thinking outside of the box to fight back. And it all revolves around supply chain resilience.
Here’s a five-part playbook you can follow to do the same.
Strategy 1 — Build Always-On Tariff Intelligence and Scenario Planning
First things first — you need someone actually watching this stuff. Either someone on your team tracks proposed duties, trade negotiations, and all the political posturing, or someone else externally does it. Because finding out about a new tariff from your customer’s angry phone call is not a business strategy.
Once you’ve got that intel coming in, plug it into a responsive TMS or whatever system you use to run numbers. Build some “what-if” scenarios so you can see what happens to your costs and margins when tariffs jump. Don’t guess — run the math.
The real trick is setting up triggers before things hit the fan. When you can credibly assess a definitive announcement from the White House, or see legislation moving through committee or public comment periods opening up, that’s your cue to act. Book capacity early, shift your Incoterms, pre-buy inventory — whatever makes sense for your operation.
Strategy 2 — Stop Putting All Your Eggs in China’s Basket
Now that you can see tariff changes coming, it’s time to do something about them. “China + 1 + N” means keeping China as your primary supplier but adding one backup country (the +1), then eventually multiple backups (the +N).
Start by moving 20-30% of your high-duty stuff to Southeast Asia, India, or Mexico. Not everything, not overnight, but enough to give you options when the next round of tariffs drops. Think of it as building fallback supply chain lanes.
Here’s the part most people screw up, though: Qualify backup factories before you need them. Get dual tooling set up, run some test production, and work out the kinks. Scrambling to find a new supplier when tariffs spike 50% is like shopping for insurance after your house catches fire.
And, for the love of profit margins, do the real math. Total landed cost means everything — the new drayage, extra brokerage fees, detention, and transloading steps you didn’t have before. If your “savings” disappear once you factor in the actual logistics, you’re just moving problems around instead of solving them.
Build the backup systems now, because you won’t have time later.
Strategy 3 — Fix Your Contracts Before They Break You
Supply chain resilience means your contracts bend with reality instead of breaking when the world changes. Build flexibility into your agreements now, or you’ll spend next year renegotiating everything.
Those locked-in annual bids are outdated the moment tariffs change. And while backup suppliers matter, they won’t help if your logistics contracts are still running on pre-pandemic terms.
So, get smart about contract design. Ditch the static annual rates and move to index-linked pricing or quarterly reviews. Build in tariff surcharges that work both ways — when duties go up, rates adjust up. When they drop, rates come down too.
The key is to tie everything to actual, verifiable tariff codes. Not some vague “market conditions” language that turns into a fight every time rates change. Your carrier says costs went up 15%? Show me the HTS code and the duty schedule. Your shipper wants relief when tariffs drop? Same deal — prove it with real numbers.
Everybody knows the rules upfront, carriers get predictability, and shippers avoid surprise invoices that blow up their budgets. No arguments, no emergency calls, no “we need to discuss your rates” emails.
Strategy 4 — Get Creative with Inventory and Tariff Loopholes
Flexible contracts are half the battle. The other half is being strategic about inventory and working the system legally to your advantage.
Not every SKU deserves the same treatment. Segment your products by how much tariffs hurt them and how patient your customers are when stuff gets delayed. High-duty items with impatient customers? Keep more safety stock. Low-duty commodity stuff? Let it ride lean and save the cash.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. There are also loopholes out there to defer tariff payments or get money back. Think free-trade zones (FTZs), bonded warehouses, duty drawback programs, the works. Store stuff in an FTZ, and you don’t pay duties until it leaves for final delivery. Export something you imported? Get those duty payments back through drawback programs.
And if you really want to get creative, explore tariff engineering. Adding a tiny software flash, doing final assembly stateside, or basic kitting can legitimately bump your products into lower duty brackets.
Not talking about anything shady — just understanding that a laptop assembled in the U.S. from foreign components gets different treatment than a fully assembled import. The tariff system has loopholes built right in — might as well use them.
Strategy 5 — Let Technology Do the Heavy Lifting
You’ve got the intelligence, the backup suppliers, flexible contracts, and smart inventory. Now you need systems that can keep up.
Your TMS better be doing more than just moving freight around. Get one that ties together rating, execution, and settlement so when tariffs change, your route guides and mode choices update automatically.
Set up AI bots to monitor and analyze trade gazettes, WCO notices, and customs rulings. When something changes, they trigger repricing or rerouting without you having to babysit the process. After all, who has time to check government websites all day, looking for tariff updates manually?
But before you commit to anything, use digital twins to test scenarios. Want to see what happens to your carbon footprint, costs, and service levels if you shift 30% of volume from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City? Run the simulation first. See what breaks before you actually break it.
Supply chain resilience comes down to speed — how fast you can spot problems, run scenarios, and execute changes. The companies winning this game have systems that move at the speed of policy changes, not the speed of spreadsheets.
Time to Build a Tariff-Proof System That Works
Tariffs are permanent now. Accept it. The companies winning this game stopped trying to outsmart trade policy and started building systems that roll with whatever Washington throws at them. Intelligence, backup plans, flexible contracts, smart inventory, and real-time tech — that’s your playbook. Everyone else is still waiting for things to “go back to normal.” Spoiler alert: This is the new normal.
We built EKA Solutions because we got tired of watching companies get blindsided by stuff they should have seen coming. Our Omni-TMS™ does the real-time repricing and planning so you can flexibly every time duties change. Our Digital Freight Ecosystem Management (dFEMX™) capabilities connect all your backup suppliers and carriers in one place instead of juggling 50 different systems. And our AI will be built to monitor trade rulings and customs changes automatically, while real-time visibility shows you exactly where your freight is and when it’ll actually arrive. We handle the chaos and manage the risk so you can focus on moving goods and making money.
Ready to stop getting caught off guard by tariff changes? Contact us and we’ll show you how to build operations that work when nothing seems to make sense.