We hope everyone had a great Fourth of July celebration. As we head into July, there are some important dates this month that could test the patience and processes of shippers around the world.
For example, the president announced today, July 9, that seven countries would be subject to new tariff rates. On Monday, he also sent letters to several countries warning them about their upcoming tariffs.
We will spare you all the details since the president has further delayed the imposition of country-specific tariffs to August 1. Along with the announcement today of new rates for certain countries, who knows what the actual tariffs will be when August arrives? And with the 90-day grace period for China due to expire in mid-August, any prediction about what the future will look like is basically a guess.
The problem of playing the "Art of the Deal" with global supply chains is that it creates an excessive amount of uncertainty, and this uncertainty is having an impact on the global economy and on freight demands in the United States. How can your company plan for a situation that's still up in the air?
One way to deal with this is to create a tariff management plan that helps you look at various scenarios and quantify their economic impact. If you’re looking for help, we encourage you to get in touch. We can help you to almost instantly calculate the financial impact of tariffs as the changes are being announced, so you won’t need to figure it all out yourself.
Now let's look at what's happening in the LTL market since that's another area where we're expecting significant changes this month. On July 19 the revisions to the freight classification system being introduced by the NMFTA will take effect. We’ve been talking about this for several months, and we’re just ten days away from it actually happening. Do you know how it will impact your LTL costs?
For those companies that haven’t planned ahead, there could be some big surprises ahead. Frighteningly, according to some of the experts we talked to, less than 10% of the companies shipping LTL freight have come up with a strategic plan that addresses these changes.
If you’re wondering if the products your company ships will be affected, you can check their Docket 2025-1. Another tool for managing your LTL costs is our LTL strategic assessment. This evaluation basically helps you to understand the impact to your organization and your options to reduce LTL costs.
And if you’re looking for other resources or support for getting through these turbulent times, you know what to do. Just send us an email, give us a call at 630-833-0890 Ext 190, or schedule a time to meet via Calendly.
BY MIKE REGAN, CO-FOUNDER OF TRANZACT
CONNECT ON LINKEDIN
LET'S TALK! BOOK TIME WITH ME