EMERGENCY ALERT 🚨: The ‘Executive End-Run’ on Tariffs
In today’s emergency post which is an echo of my newsletter on LinkedIn, I highlight the tariff prediction I made in our recent report and discuss the importance of trade engineering and the need to stop looking to the courts for relief and start navigating your way around the barriers.
Meet the New Tariffs, Same as the Old Tariffs: Why 2026 Requires ‘Trade Engineering’
For the sourcing leaders waiting on the sidelines for a judicial reprieve from the current U.S. tariff policy, the path to margin protection has moved from the courtroom to your conference room.
For the past decade, the long arc of trade policy has bent towards restrictions, trade wars, and unilateral interests. This means that the days of viewing trade policy as a static background cost are officially over. As we navigate the opening months of 2026, we are witnessing trade chaos with what appears to be an infinite loop of conflict that remains indifferent to judicial rulings or traditional international norms.
We’ve seen the SCOTUS ruling, the headlines, and the Executive response. Procurement teams (if they don’t already have them) need their own response and plan.
The Executive End-Run
Our Procurement 2026: BIG Trends and Predictions report looked at 33 BIG ideas for 2026, and tariffs were a major topic.
In fact, we made this exact prediction: “Meet the New Tariffs, Same as the Old Tariffs: An Executive End-Run” that said:
Regardless of SCOTUS, the administration will bypass judicial roadblocks by declaring “national security” emergencies to keep tariffs in place.
While the industry watches the Supreme Court, the reality of 2026 trade policy has already moved beyond the gavel. Our latest research predicted that the U.S. executive branch would look to bypass any judicial roadblocks. Tariffs remain a part of the 2026 global sourcing equation
Trade Engineering
While there are new lawsuits fighting the tariffs (from companies like Costco and FedEx), the effective cost of trade appears to be a fixture in the 2026 sourcing landscape. Now is the time for tariff and trade engineering.
In 2026, finding the best supplier(s) may require a technical and geographical overhaul of your supply chain strategy. Becoming a “Trade Engineer” means:
- Engineering around the wall: Strategically leveraging USMCA loopholes and regional trade agreements to re-route the flow of value.
- Technical Re-classification: Using AI to audit your entire catalog and re-classify goods into lower-duty HTS codes with precision.
- Geographical Agility: Moving production or assembly not to “lower-cost” regions, but to “lower-TCO” jurisdictions that incorporate duties.
In 2026, your margins won’t be protected by negotiation alone; they will be protected by your ability to legally minimize the “border tax” through strategy.
The CPO 45-Second Briefing
We recently recorded a short CPO briefing on this exact issue. Watch the video below for the specific trend and prediction discussions as well as two CPO takeaways.
