Tariffs, Talent and Uncertainty: What Supply Chains Learned in 2025
From The Chain Podcast by ASCM (The Association for Supply Chain Management)
December 11, 2025 · 34 min · Season 2 · Episode 19
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of tariff policy on global supply chains and insights from supply chain expert Alastair Charatan.
We revisit the past year of tariff policy and its ripple effects across global supply chains. Our guest, supply chain expert Alastair Charatan, returns to discuss what predictions held up and what surprises emerged from the predictions we made back in January. We unpack why large‑scale reshoring hasn’t materialized, how shortened planning horizons complicate capital investment and why a “carrots over sticks” industrial strategy beats blunt trade instruments. Listen and learn: Why you need to invest in scenario planning tools lock capacity early when bottlenecks loom, and prioritize workforce development to work alongside automation and co-bots. Want more supply chain knowledge? Visit ASCM.org. For more details on The Chain Podcast, visit ascm.org/podcast
People in this episode
Guest: Alastair Charatan
Topics covered
- tariff policy
- global supply chains
- reshoring
- capital investment
- industrial strategy
- scenario planning
- workforce development
Keywords
- tariffs
- supply chains
- reshoring
- capital investment
- scenario planning
- workforce development
- automation
- co-bots
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: ASCM, ASCM.org, The Chain Podcast
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- The Truth About Driver Shortages: Pay, Transparency and the Workforce Reality with The National Transportation Institute · May 14, 2026 · 31 min
- SCOR® as a Framework for Trade Resilience with Hamilton Beach Brands · April 9, 2026 · 30 min
- Leading Manufacturing Through Change, Data and Talent with Tsubaki Nakashima · March 12, 2026 · 19 min
- The Future of Manufacturing with the Reshoring Institute · February 12, 2026 · 33 min
- How IoT is Transforming the Cold Chain with SmartSense by Digi · January 15, 2026 · 36 min
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