Freight Forwarders And Brokers Seek To Mitigate Tariffs On Multiple Fronts
Guest commentary by Glenn Palanacki (Descartes) on key findings from the 2025 Global Forwarder/Broker Benchmark Study from Descartes.
Tariff uncertainty continues to be a major concern in the logistics industry, according to the 2025 Global Forwarder/Broker Benchmark Study from Descartes. Survey results show forwarders and brokers consider tariffs as one of the most impactful regulatory or industry changes (42%), second only to pricing pressure.
Breaking these numbers down by region, North American forwarders and brokers (53%) appear to be much more focused on tariffs than Latin America (30%), EMEA (28%) and APAC (27%).
In addition, rising consumer costs due to tariff policies is the second ranked ecommerce impact on forwarding and brokerage (43%). Related options — the need for flexible warehousing (30%) and cross-border customs expertise (25%) — are also significant ecommerce impacts, presumably a reflection of changes in U.S. trade policy on ecommerce shipments such as the recent suspension of the duty-free de minimis exemption.
While forwarders and brokers see global instability as the main macroeconomic challenge to impact the logistics industry over the next five years…
Charter Sponsors
Trust and Trading Partner Compliance
As a follow-up to previous surveys on trust in supply chain management, this survey explores trust as it relates to trading partners complying with regulations (e.g., forced labor, environmental, global trade, etc.). If a trusted supply chain partner was found to have compliance or risk management issues, how would your organization most likely respond? What type of evidence do you require from trading partners for them to receive/retain “Trusted Partner” status?
Latest Talking Logistics Episode:
AI, Networks, And The Road To Supply Chain Breakthroughs
Platinum Sponsors
New from Sponsor Blogs
3 trends driving speed, agility, and accuracy in CPG retail logistics
Source: Uber Freight
Source: Uber Freight
Case study: How Honor Foods optimized their route planning with Trimble
Source: Trimble
What is preventive maintenance for fleets?
Source: Trimble
Webinar: Rethinking Risk in Aerospace & Defense: From Checklist to Strategy
Source: Descartes
Web Seminar: Rethinking Risk in Aerospace & Defense: From Checklist to Strategy
Source: Descartes
Gold Sponsors
The regional varience in tariff concerns is facinating. North American forwarders at 53% compared to APAC at 27% shows how diferent the impacts are across markets. The connection beween tariff policy and the need for flexible warehosing makes sense when you think about companies hedging their supply chain risks.