Freight Executives Urge Resilience as Tariffs and Conflict Roil Global Supply Chains

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Global supply chains are entering a turbulent stretch driven by tariffs, maritime blockages and wars, and resilience is the key to weathering it, freight executive Ana María González told a conference in Cancún.

González, founder of All Trans Cargo, an agency with operations in the United States, South America and China, spoke at the 12th Americas Freight Cargo Conference, which drew about 100 delegates from 25 countries last week.

Participants noted that logistics remains indispensable despite the difficulties, because most nations depend on foreign trade to keep themselves supplied.

The past year has been brutal for importers, González said, pointing to higher tariffs and taxes on goods.

“The last year has been terrible, first for U.S. imports with the rise in tariffs and taxes on products, which is why a good percentage — 30 to 40% — of imports into the United States from abroad, and toward Europe and the Middle East, has fallen off,” she said.

Freight rates double as uncertainty grows

Analyzing the crisis’s impact on international trade, González said the disruptions made shipping more expensive and rattled global logistics. Rates climbed from between $2,000 and $4,000 per container to between $6,000 and $8,000.

That in turn slows purchasing, shrinks margins and hits the end consumer, she said, feeding commercial uncertainty. Freight agencies serve as vital intermediaries in that chain, yet they are often blamed for production delays or bad weather at ports — factors outside their direct control. Facing those obstacles, she argued, the answer is excellence in customer service.

Working with empathy and constant communication allows agencies to resolve unexpected problems and keep clients’ trust, she said. With political uncertainty surrounding the U.S. elections, she added, the industry’s outlook is focused on continuity.

“What do we do as agents? Give the best of ourselves, of each one of us, in order to survive, since we have chosen to be in this industry,” she said. “It is about doing our best, giving the best of ourselves to move forward and, as I always say, thanking God that we are in this industry, because in this industry there are only two or three countries in the world that are not autonomous — in the rest, everyone is going to import and export.”