The Tariff Task-Force: A Dedicated Team to Win the Battle with Trade Uncertainty.

*Win* the Battle with Tariff Uncertainty

Setup a Dedicated Cross-Functional Team.

Published: Aug. 04, 2025
Authored By: H J Schmitt, SCMP
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A Strategic Game Plan for Survival of Adaptive Manufacturers and Exporters

(Also Read: Mckinsey &Co.’s Tariff Response Report)

BEAT THE TARIFF CRISIS!

ACTIVATE A RESPONSE

➡️ START HERE !

Action: Form Stand-Up Cross-Functional Team Initiatives

Actions must stem from the emergent level that tariff impacts level on business owners in manufacturing. Some companies and industries will have far greater negative consequences and these can drastically effect profits, availability of supply, and have lasting downstream effects.

…Embed the understanding into the company’s culture that

(potentially detrimental) forces are at work

– all of the time.

SUPPLYCHAINLOGISTICS.NET

Potential for Cross-Functional Team Initiatives

Understand the timeline of varying impacts and where each initiative will reap the greatest cost savings, prevent dissatisfactory customer experiences, and maintain or improve quality.

Set relevant and appropriate time windows for each initiative. These objectives will each be assigned to one of the following;

• • Immediate
  • Short Term
  • Near Term
  • Long Term

How leaders manage and develop each response initiative depends on the level of urgency that it must be addressed. The longer term focus is on creating resiliency and flexibility for the future, adapting successive iterations of businesses processes, products, and policies, as they contribute to transforming the entire organization into a more responsive, better prepared, and well-equipped entity.

The underlying objective of extracting lessons learned from each crisis, is to embed an understanding into the company’s culture that competitive forces are at work all of the time. That, however detrimental the tariffs are now, the future status of the business depends on exploiting the situation for useful insights and taking action to ensure the best possible response to any supply chain disruption tomorrow.

IMMEDIATE:

• • • Tariff operations focus

SHORT TERM:

• • • Inventory and supplier operations
    • Stakeholder engagement
    • Product engineering and classification management

MID TERM:

• • • Commercial optimization
    • Cost reduction and cash preservation

LONG TERM:

• • • Manufacturing and remanufacturing
    • Supplier network and supply chain optimization
    • Business portfolio reconfiguration

Implement Actions Responsively.

Directing the Focus of Cross-Functional Teams.

To understand what this means for the business, once these cross-functional teams are formed, our Leaders in Manufacturing will direct the teams focus basing this decision on the planning relevancy where impacts to the business are immediate, short-term, near-term, and long term with varying implementation strategies at each level.

IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:

• Tariff operations focus is on ensuring accurate, timely shipments that don’t exceed trade control quotas.SPECIFICALLY: to minimize delays at border crossings, reduce exposure to avoidable tariffs, and prevent cash flow from being locked in tariff prepayments

SHORT TERM ACTIONS:

• Inventory and supplier operations focus on visibility for accurate border documentation, sufficient inventory of critical orders, and sharing data with suppliers
• Stakeholder engagement focus on applying crisis communication tactically to inform government + stakeholders on impacts of tariffs in industry and on companies
• Product engineering and classification management focus is to optimize product specifications and qualify for lower-rate tariff categories – ensuring that parts and SKUs are correctly classified with HS codes for exemptions

MID TERM ACTIONS:

• Commercial optimization focus is for categorical changes to the price, position, regulatory penalty and profitability of all inputs, including eliminating those which don’t serve the businesses bottom line
• Cost reduction and cash preservation focus is to preserve cash + reduce costs to prepare the company for many scenarios

LONG TERM ACTIONS:

• Manufacturing and remanufacturing focus on planning to ramp up manufacturing and increase product circularity (“remanufacturing”) in core end markets
• Supplier network and supply chain optimization focus on shifting suppliers or supplier footprints to source more from lower-tariff countries
• Business portfolio shifts to focus on core, high-margin businesses through divestments, capital reallocation, and M&A

Resource to Review:

• Global Trade and Tariff Related Resources Listed here for Canadian Companies. (https://sclci.substack.com/p/list-of-global-trade-and-tariff-related)
• April 11, 2025, Mckinsey Article ”Navigating tariffs with a geopolitical nerve center”, (https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/geopolitics/our-insights/navigating-tariffs-with-a-geopolitical-nerve-center_)An Explanation of Stakeholder Engagement in Critical Projects