Escalating trade conflicts, rising global tensions, and persistent supply chain disruptions are placing unprecedented pressure on manufacturing and supply chain leaders.
The newly released 10th Annual 2025 State of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Report, from global manufacturing and supply chain company Fictiv, revealed that concern is growing among a pool of 254 senior manufacturing and supply chain leaders due to tariffs, trade wars, and geopolitical instability. Most companies produce goods in clean energy, electric vehicles, robotics, or medtech industries, which use highly complex parts.
“Concerns about tariffs and trade wars are clearly top of mind for manufacturing and supply chain leaders,” says Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO of Fictiv. “We’re seeing a level of global uncertainty and supply chain disruption we haven’t seen since 2020. However, the report also shows that companies are embracing new technologies and strategies to build more resilient and agile supply chains.”
The survey found that 96 per cent are worried about the impact of current trade policies, and 93 per cent believe trade wars will escalate in 2025. A top concern is how tariffs will affect costs and profitability (57 per cent), while 48 per cent said tariffs will drive business uncertainty.
While 68 per cent of leaders are looking at onshoring as a strategy in 2025, particularly in markets that depend on complex parts, 77 per cent said that a lack of resources, such as labour, greatly limits their ability to manage the supply chain effectively. Supplier quality, reliability and compliance are also fueling concerns.
On top of that. the industry anticipates climate-related disruptions, as well. Ninety-five per cent report that weather and climate events, such as wildfires and floods, impact their supply chain strategy, and 91 per cent have sustainability initiatives and governance in place. Despite the policy landscape (U.S. withdrawing from the Paris Accords and reversing Biden-era policies like the Inflation Reduction Act) there is an urgency to implement more sustainable practices throughout the production cycle.
Scaling production has also become more difficult as 91 per cent face barriers to product innovation, while 86 per cent said sourcing parts takes time away from introducing new products. The time engineers spend on sourcing and procurement activities is rising significantly. In 2024, 13 per cent of engineers dedicated more than eight hours per week to these tasks. By 2025, that number grew to 19 per cent, a 6-point increase.
“The wave of new tariffs introduced during the early months of Trump’s presidency represents the continuation of an international trade environment that is becoming increasingly more difficult for supply chain leaders to forecast and plan against,” said Sabrina Paseman, general partner at Omni Ventures. “Developing supply chain resiliency is more critical than ever.”
