The Trump administration\u2019s latest wave of import tariffs \u2014 ranging from a 25% duty on heavy-duty trucks to levies on industrial inputs and manufactured goods from China and India \u2014 are causing U.S. shippers and manufacturers to scramble for stability, logistics experts said.<\/p>\n
Marc Schaffer, principal economist at transportation-technology firm Breakthrough, said the tariff changes come amid what he called an \u201cextended freight recession,\u201d with volumes largely flat and shippers focused on cost control while preserving key carrier relationships for when the market eventually turns.<\/p>\n
Breakthrough<\/a>, a U.S. Venture company, is a provider of sustainable fuel and freight solutions for shippers. The company\u2019s data shows little freight growth across most industries, as companies delay major decisions in response to volatile costs and new trade barriers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at that data now in the last couple of months, it\u2019s almost just kind of funneled to this like near zero percent growth year-over-year, where it\u2019s just kind of getting a lot of flatness. No big decisions, a lot of uncertainty in the market,\u201d Schaffer told FreightWaves.<\/p>\n The proposed 25% duty on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks, Schaffer said, could squeeze smaller carriers and complicate fleet replacement cycles already slowed by excess capacity and high financing costs.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this whole thing was somewhat expected just because they did the Section 232 investigation,\u201d Schaffer said. \u201cMy policy analyst just made the comment that we\u2019re actually still waiting for a signed executive order with all the details of exactly what, on the ground does this really mean?\u201d<\/p>\n At Fictiv<\/a> executives are seeing similar confusion among customers trying to plan around shifting duty rates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see [tariffs] as the new normal,\u201d said Vinny Licata, the company\u2019s head of logistics and import compliance. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve done is we\u2019ve actually put on our platform, provided our customers with more transparency on what the duty cost rates will be.\u201d<\/p>\n San Francisco-based Fictiv offers on-demand procurement services for custom mechanical components parts for the U.S. manufacturing industry. The company has production operations in the U.S., China, India and Mexico, with a total of 400 employees.<\/p>\n Fictiv\u2019s platform has the capability to quote live duty rates and provide real-time cost visibility as tariffs fluctuate between 15% and 50% depending on product category or country of origin.<\/p>\n That transparency, Licata said, is critical as manufacturers weigh whether to relocate production.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you start production in a region, you can\u2019t just move it easily,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re helping customers understand the cost implications before they make that commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n Fictiv continues to see growth in domestic and nearshoring activity as firms look to hedge geopolitical risk, Licata said.<\/p>\n Mexico operations, Licata said, are expanding under the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA) framework, with several customers shifting production south of the border.<\/p>\n Larger firms such as Eli Lilly and Fujifilm can more easily absorb costs and invest in U.S. facilities, but smaller and mid-sized manufacturers remain under pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to see more manufacturing come back to the U.S.,\u201d Licata said, \u201cbut it\u2019s not going to look like the old days \u2014 it\u2019ll be advanced, automated, and technology-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n Schaffer agrees that technology and data-driven visibility will be vital. Breakthrough\u2019s clients are leaning heavily on lane-level pricing analytics and sustainability metrics to find efficiencies amid cost pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about using data to make smarter decisions, whether that\u2019s switching modes, reducing empty miles, or identifying alternative fuels that deliver cost parity,\u201d Schaffer said.<\/p>\n For now, both executives see 2026 shaping up as another year of slow freight growth and steady but modest rate increases \u2014roughly 2% to 3% \u2014 as tariffs, tight margins, and policy uncertainty continue to test the industry\u2019s resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil we get more definitive information and clarity,\u201d Schaffer said, \u201ccompanies will keep doing what they\u2019re doing \u2014 trying to hold steady and control what they can.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Tariff turbulence deepens uncertainty across US supply chains<\/a> appeared first on FreightWaves<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration\u2019s latest wave of import tariffs \u2014 ranging from a 25% duty on heavy-duty trucks to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":287896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[10537,64,148011,148010,79,148012,19877,101859,148008,67,132,68,148009],"class_list":{"0":"post-287895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-breakthrough","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-china-and-india","11":"tag-cost-control","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-freight-solutions","14":"tag-import-tariffs","15":"tag-indian-goods","16":"tag-marc-schaffer","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-vinny-licata"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115341455940958458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}