Commitment Matters

What is actually new this time?

Three features of the current escalation break the pattern of previous ones, and each has a specific contractual consequence. The tariff is priced against a third government’s conduct. These are not product duties or trade-balance duties. They are Section 301 measures triggered by a trading partner’s alleged failure to legislate and enforce a ban on goods made with forced labour.

So is this a fight about price?

Price is where the argument often surfaces, but it may not be where the problem originates. Consider what an organisation must be able to do to respond well to the events of the past three weeks. It must identify, within hours, which live contracts are exposed to a 12.5% duty and which qualify for an exemption. It must locate the evidence supporting that qualification.

When do we become strategic?

When the economics become visible. That is the whole of the answer, and it sets the agenda. Four things follow. Make the portfolio legible before the next event. Exposure mapping is a data exercise conducted in calm conditions. It cannot be performed during a crisis, which is precisely when every organisation attempts it.

Licensed to do what?

Every business function wants to elevate its role, its influence, its status. So it is in this context that we should consider current conversations about the need for ‘licensed procurement professionals’. It’s an important conversation because it opens the opportunity to discuss our fast changing business environment and how commercial roles more broadly should evolve.

In an AI world, what’s your differentiator?

“I’m so excited about what Copilot is doing for us”, gushed an attendee at a recent contract management event.