06/11/2025

Six Short-term Strategies for Doing Business in a Trade War

There is a lot of uncertainty in the supply chain right now

Given the chaos and uncertainty unleashed by the trade war, it is hard, if not impossible, for companies participating in global supply chains to formulate even medium-term strategies. To find out how businesses are coping in the short term, we interviewed supply chain leaders at more than a dozen manufacturers and retailers inside and outside the United States. Those conversations provided insight into the steps companies are taking to mitigate the adverse effects on their businesses, including employee morale. Here are six they shared with us.

1. Be honest with stakeholders about the lack of clarity.

There is a lot of uncertainty in the supply chain and across the company caused by the trade war and how it changes from day to day. Leadership that communicates about this openly and transparently both internally and with close supply chain partners can dispose of a lot of fear and angst that distracts and gets in the way of action. People at one company told us that they have been holding town hall meetings with employees to openly address the situation, and managers at another firm said they were hosting similar discussions with key suppliers.

2. Get organized.

Reopen the war room created during the COVID-19 pandemic and bring together functional experts from finance, marketing, engineering and supply chain. Conduct a cost and sourcing teardown analysis to gain a detailed financial and spatial understanding of how tariffs will impact raw materials, components or products by source location.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Harvard Business Review.