Talking Supply Chain: Elections and preparing the supply chain

The upcoming presidential election in the U.S. represents starkly different views of how America addresses trade.

There are various possible governing configurations from full control of government by one party to split power across the branches of government. And it’s not just the U.S. that could see an election upend trade. The new government in Mexico is proposing an overhaul of the judicial system, which could impact compliance with the USMCA trade pact.

Elections, they say, have consequences. And the global supply chain feels them all. In many ways, though, elections represent yet another risk scenario for supply chain planners to manage. How do they do that when both parties have such differing opinions on trade?

Alex Saric, CMO of Ivalua, a provider of cloud based spend management software, told the Talking Supply Chain podcast that the differences are not as vast as they seem.

“If you look at the top level they’re actually more similar than different,” Saric said. “Both of them are actually quite protectionist and [will] kind of continue this recent trend, a big shift away from the free trade focus of the last few decades.”

Saric went on to detail some of the key differences between the candidates, but also noted that for  supply chain managers, this just represents another reason why diversifying supply chains is so critical.

“Personally, I feel making any kind of drastic preemptive changes in anticipation of a specific policy is a really bad idea,” he said. “It’s gambling at this point. But at the same time, that doesn’t mean just standing by and not doing anything. It is going to be a dynamic environment. There are going to be changes. So I think it is very important for anyone that has a great dependency on global supply chains to ensure they’re in a position to make quick, informed decisions based on the policies that actually come into force.”

To hear more of Saric’s comments and what advice he would give supply chain managers to prepare for elections in the U.S. and other countries, listen today.

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