Supply Chain Research

American business leaders are significantly more optimistic about the trade outlook than their peers globally. The latest ISM survey shows export order expectations at their highest since April 2011, and imports at the highest since February 2007 after a four month recovery. That’s likely been driven by tax reform. Yet with tariffs now announced across the renewables, appliances and metals sectors cutting imports, and retaliation potentially hurting exports the outlook may darken in coming months. Managers in China, the U.K. and Germany have become more pessimistic and the outlook has mo...