Reactions and Remedies: Q1 2025 Supply Chain Outlook

2024’s “year of elections”, regulatory changes and physical supply chain disruptions will accelerate in 2025, bringing both risks to existing cash flows and opportunities to build competitive advantage at both the corporate and national levels.

• Rivalries and friendships: President-elect Trump has already signalled a highly protectionist and transactional approach to trade policy, with rising risks of retaliation from a more strident mainland China among others. On the more positive side a swathe of new trade deals look possible.
  
  
• Finding a balance: Logistics networks continue to find a way to deal with challenges from uncertain demand, rising regulations, new vessel deliveries and the effects of climate change. The emergence of new shipping alliances and the risk of strikes will shift the competitive landscape.
  
  
• Sustainable supply chains: The impact of environmental regulations, principally from the EU provide both higher costs and the opportunity to build competitive advantage across the materials key to most products. Circular supply chains are steadily maturing and provide new business opportunities.
  
  
• Finding fuels: Supply chains have to deliver the energy transition both in terms of manufacturing products like renewables and in improving the environmental footprint of logistics. That process will be complicated by weak demand in autos, growing uses for AI and protectionist trade policies.
  
  
• Deploying the playbook: Many of the challenges faced in 2025 have been dealt with before, with firms revisiting tariff-tackling strategies, minimizing supply chain costs and implementing technology investments with an eye to returns and not just participating in the latest fad.

Speakers

Chris Rogers

Head of Supply Chain Research
S&P Global Market Intelligence

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Agnieszka Maciejewska

Associate Director for Models and Scenarios
S&P Global Market Intelligence

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Eric Oak 

Senior Supply Chain Analyst
S&P Global Market Intelligence

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Natznet Tesfay (Moderator) 

Vice President, Global Intelligence and Analytics
S&P Global Market Intelligence