In today’s interconnected world, a single supply chain disruption can impact the entire market. Supply chain resilience refers to the network’s ability to withstand sudden interruptions, adapt to changes and quickly recover before customers know what happened. A strong supply chain can help a business outlast its competitors.
While a variety of factors can cause disruptions, including inflation, logistics bottlenecks, software malfunctions and economic downturns, tariff policies are among the most pressing issues for modern businesses today. As of November 2025, the United States has imposed tariffs on products from Canada, India, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina and other nations, with the possibility of additional tariffs for China.
While this policy increased trade volatility, leading businesses are employing a variety of strategies to procure supplies and continue providing great products for their customers.
In this blog, we’ll discuss which industries are most likely to be most impacted by tariffs and share insights from our supply chain strategy experts on how supply chain leaders can prepare their networks to adjust to them while maintaining profitability and competitive customer service levels.
Industries Impacted by Tariffs
Higher costs are one of the biggest impacts of the new tariff policies. When companies have to pay more for supplies, they often raise prices to offset the cost, forcing customers to compromise their budgets and eventually turn to cheaper competitors. Once shareholders notice declining sales, companies may charge even more to boost profits, creating a cycle that could eventually drive them out of business.
Delays are another common issue, which can cause online businesses to receive poor reviews, making it harder to turn a profit.
Companies need to consider choosing different suppliers, how they’ll stay compliant without stretching their budget and whether to raise prices to stay afloat or maintain their current pricing strategy and possibly outlast their competitors. Understanding these challenges enables business owners to plan ahead and develop risk management strategies to protect their supply chains.
While tariffs affect virtually every industry, those that rely heavily on imported materials are likely to experience the biggest impact on their supply chains. Industries that have a high reliance on imported materials include:
- Manufacturing: Many manufacturers import raw materials from other countries. With tariffs, these raw materials would face increased landed costs, which would impact the manufacturer’s overall cost model.
- Consumer goods: More than 30 percent of consumer goods items are imported or have imported components, including electronics, appliances, home goods and toys. Electronics are nearly 80 percent imported.
- Automotive: The automotive industry relies heavily on imported goods in the manufacturing of vehicles. With tariffs, this industry should expect higher landed costs for its imported vehicle parts.
- Apparel and footwear: About 99 percent of shoes sold in the United States are imported — primarily from China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Apparel and footwear companies will either need to account for tariff fees on these items or consider moving their manufacturing operations to the U.S.
Preparing Your Supply Chain for Tariffs
To help your business navigate these challenging times, it’s important to think proactively and plan ahead, rather than scrambling for a solution when you’re in a tight situation. Your strategy should include these core pillars:
- Visibility and data integrity: Review your entire supply chain to find vulnerabilities in your software, employees, transportation or suppliers.
- Scenario modelling and simulation: Use advanced software to evaluate possibilities and develop airtight strategies.
- Technology and automation: Have your team use AI and predictive analytics to identify potential risks with greater accuracy.
The best way to understand the impact of tariffs on your company and customers is to model various scenarios with various tariff structures and supply chain costs. An end-to-end supply chain model can help you determine how tariffs might impact landed cost and service levels. This model should include inventory holding and cash flow impacts in addition to ports and shipping schedules.
Complete Supply Chain Modelling
Network, cost and scenario modelling are essential tools for fine-tuning your supply chain and navigating unexpected changes in trade laws. With scenario modelling, you look at a variety of possibilities, such as different tariff rates, supplier changes and adjusted trade routes, and determine the best way to proceed without passing too much of the cost onto your customers.
Likewise, network modelling gives you a comprehensive view of the supply chain, making it easier to detect weak links and build on your strengths. You’ll also consider the impacts of various trade-offs, such as:
- Increasing costs vs. delaying shipments
- Importing supplies from other countries vs. turning to local suppliers
- Staying with a loyal supplier vs. switching to a cheaper option
The biggest impact that companies should anticipate seeing from tariffs is to their landed cost and total inbound cost model. With these new increased costs, companies should reexamine their entire cost models to include their supply chains. Most companies in these situations will adjust some of their supply base and supply chain networks to optimise costs. This includes inbound transportation, inventory positioning, facility placement, sourcing and more.
Consider these factors as you build your cost model:
- Changing sources: Where a company sources its products and the resulting inbound transportation can make a big difference in how tariffs impact its supply chain. By diversifying suppliers across multiple countries, supply chain leaders can reduce their dependence on any single market, creating greater overall resilience in their operations. However, this diversification adds complexity to the planning and execution of the supply chain.
- Facility relocation: Companies may decide to relocate certain parts of their supply chain to other domestic or international locations to mitigate the impact of tariffs on their imports. This realignment should include a potential make vs. buy analysis and additional modelling to determine the total impact.
- Reshoring: Some companies may consider reshoring, which involves bringing certain functions like production and manufacturing back to the U.S. This eliminates the need to import from other countries, mitigating the impact of tariffs.
- Insource vs. outsource vs. hybrid: Companies need to consider whether insourcing, outsourcing or a hybrid model will be most beneficial for them and their customers. Insourcing can give companies more control over lead times and tariffs, while outsourcing can result in lower labour costs but higher import tariffs. Sometimes a hybrid of the two can provide a happy medium for an organisation’s supply chain.
- Planning and inventory management: Changes to product sources and supply chain networks frequently impact lead times and supplier delivery consistency, making it harder to ensure a consistent flow of inventory. Certain inventory management strategies can help alleviate some of these challenges.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI can quickly analyse cost patterns, trade flows, geopolitical signals and other datasets, produce a clear report and make recommendations. You can use AI to predict the likelihood of future tariffs, so you can plan ahead and continue business as usual while your competitors try to navigate the latest policies.
Artificial intelligence can also optimise supplier portfolios and recommend logistics changes in real time. Try integrating AI with your network models and demand forecasts to get a comprehensive overview that pulls information from your databases.
Organisations can leverage this emerging technology to manage the impact of tariffs on their supply chains:
- Dynamic pricing: Dynamic pricing tools that leverage AI technology enable retailers to adjust prices in real time based on tariff impacts and market condition. This can help them maximise their assortment without putting the cost increases on the customer.
- Demand forecasting: AI-powered demand forecasting tools help companies better anticipate market needs. They can use this information to adjust their inventory and sourcing strategies to mitigate the impact of tariffs.
How enVista Can Help
When tariffs seem unpredictable, enVista has the tools and expertise to help you build network models, plan for future scenarios, execute your strategies and build a sturdy supply chain. For personalised guidance on adjusting your supply chain strategy for greater resilience against tariffs, contact our supply chain experts.
