Gregory Husisian on New Manufacturing Trade Environment – 'Key things are understanding and risk planning'

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Gregory Husisian joined Industry Week‘s Production Pulse to share insight on how the manufacturing community is preparing for a different trade environment following the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

“At this point, the key things to do are understanding and risk planning,” Husisian said. He suggested companies pull their Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) data from the customs portal and assess their tariff risk exposure is and from which countries, particularly from China and Mexico. “Those two countries have to be at the top of the risk planning,” he emphasized.

Husisian explained that while tariffs are making the headlines, companies need to make supply chain integrity just as much of a priority. “While people need to be thinking about how they’re going to cope with the higher tariffs,” he said, “they also need to be coping with the reality of supply chain integrity being a huge focus, and that can disrupt your operations even more potentially than tariffs if your goods are being detained at the border.”

“This to me is a wake up call,” Husisian concluded, suggesting that now is the time for companies to do an audit on their customs operations, to check their supply chain integrity, and verify their materials are being ethically sourced to prevent goods being detained.