Descartes: businesses say top concern is tariff hikes

Business leaders at companies of every size say that rising tariffs and trade barriers are the most significant global trade challenge facing logistics and supply chain leaders today, according to a survey from supply chain software provider Descartes.

Specifically, 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%. Moreover, tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size, as respondents at companies with less than 250 employees, 251-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-50,000 and 50,000+ employees all cited it as the most significant issue they are currently facing.

“Evolving tariffs and trade policies are one of a number of complex issues requiring organizations to build more resilience into their supply chains through compliance, technology and strategic planning,” Jackson Wood, Director, Industry Strategy at Descartes, said in a release. “With the potential for the incoming U.S. administration to impose new and additional tariffs on a wide variety of goods and countries of origin, U.S. importers may need to significantly re-engineer their sourcing strategies to mitigate potentially higher costs.”

The data comes from the “2024 Supply Chain Intelligence Report: Escalating Challenges for Global Supply Chain Leaders” survey, which was conducted by Descartes and SAPIO Research and surveyed 978 supply chain intelligence leaders in trading nations across Europe, North and South America, and Asia-Pacific.

In other results, the research found that:

• 62% of respondents expect large-scale supply chain disruptions to become more frequent
• 48% rank rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top international trade challenge
• 41% cite geopolitical instability as a major concern for their operations
• 40% identify ESG compliance as a critical priority for long-term growth in global trade