IN THE NEWS: Disrupted Cross-Border Freight Shipping Braces for US Tariffs

S&P Global
April 9, 2025
William Cassidy

FROM THE ARTICLE: Cross-border supply chains are being tested and reshaped as US importers rush to bring goods into the US before 25% tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods take full effect Wednesday, along with an unknown number of potential global reciprocal tariffs.

That push has been building over the last two weeks, similar to the push or pull-forward of goods before the original March 4 deadline for the US tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

....

Overhauling supply chains

That “rethink” is already happening at many companies, according to Paul Brashier, Vice President of global logistics at 3PL ITS Logistics.

“This is having a pretty large effect on North American supply chains,” Brashier told the Journal of Commerce Tuesday. “We’ve seen a lot of projects involving Mexico and Canada put on the back burner. You’re going to have complete supply chain overhauls.”

Brashier has already seen annual contracting plans change radically due to the tariffs.

“Usually, at this time of the year, we’re buttoning up [requests for proposals] and going into new contracts, but now we’re seeing a lot more second-quarter redesign, repricing, and mini bids,” he said.

ITS Logistics has been grabbing all the southbound truck capacity it can over the past month to get trucks to the US-Mexico border to move northbound loads, Brashier said. But that’s difficult as northbound loads can outnumber southbound loads by four to one.

Overall, the US freight market is still soft, despite the pull-forward of freight ahead of tariffs.

“The change in the flow is what’s creating all the work,” said Brashier. “While there’s plenty of supply, we’re changing tack and changing the way capacity moves.”

Read the full article.