IVALUA | WHITEPAPER

in which case they may struggle to continue supply at current prices, or raise prices if possible. In such a case, having an onshore supplier has not protected you at all from changing tariffs.”

Jos Joos, Head of Procurement & Supply Chain at KPMG Advisory Belgium, highlights that tariff responses vary depending on industry – such as food & beverage – and company size.

“ If trade tariffs from Europe to the US stay at 15 %, some manufacturers will cope, but in food it’ s too high and you can lose the market,” he says.“ Stockpiling was a short-term response to tariffs, but in fresh food you can’ t build inventories, so disruption can wipe out a market.”

“ From a US CPO perspective, tariffs are worrying; you may need to review your entire supplier base by country of origin.”

In the near term, businesses are considering tactical responses. In the very near term, they are looking at how to mitigate the impact of tariffs on profitability by distributing costs between suppliers, customers and the business itself.

proportion of supply chain and procurement leaders in the US expecting disruptions from new trade policies( Ivalua / Sapio Research)

“ Depending on the competitive dynamics of each industry,” Alex notes,“ the impact of tariffs is absorbed by a different part of the overall chain.”

Rethinking supply chains in response to trade policy The upheaval created by shifting tariffs has forced businesses to fundamentally rethink their supply chain strategies. Organisations are no longer content with optimising existing supply chains; they’ re actively seeking alternative sources of supply in countries with lower or no tariffs and attempting to diversify their networks to enable quicker pivots should tariffs change again.

According to a Sapio Research survey of more than 300 procurement and supply chain decision makers in the UK, the number-one strategy being applied is identifying and onboarding alternative suppliers for critical goods and services, cited by 73 % of respondents.

There is a general movement towards nearshoring or onshoring when feasible, but the reality is more complex for certain categories.

“ For some categories, supply is limited to specific countries with no near-term alternative that avoids tariffs,” Alex explains.“ In such cases, they are looking at longer term options to develop new sources of supply.”

Beyond supplier diversification, organisations are making substantial technology investments to improve resilience. This includes better visibility into and mapping of multi-tier supply chains to assess exposure to different scenarios, plus proactive risk modelling and notifications.

54 November 2025