Above the Fold: Supply Chain Logistics News (May 30, 2025)

By Adrian Gonzalez

Is ghosting on the rise or is it just me?

Maybe my emails are landing in spam boxes, or they’re getting buried deep in the inbox, or getting accidentally deleted.

Maybe they’re not landing anywhere — they’re just floating somewhere in the ether, like ghosts with no place to go.

Should I try one more time? Send one more email?

I’ll take anything at this point: an automated ‘Out of Office’ response, a bounceback,

even a small carrier pigeon landing on my windowsill, your response tied to its leg with a string.

I sit by the window and wait.

—

Moving on, here’s the supply chain and logistics news that caught my attention this week:

Plot Twist with Trump Tariffs

On Monday, the big news surrounding tariffs was that President Trump had decided to delay 50% tariffs on goods imported from the EU until July 9th (they were supposed to begin June 1).

Then on Wednesday, “a three-judge panel on the Court of International Trade said that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Trump invoked to impose the tariffs, does not authorize a president to levy universal duties on imports,” as reported by CNBC.

So, tariffs are off! Stock markets rallied.

Then yesterday, as reported by CNBC, “a federal appeals court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling that struck down most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.”

Tariffs back on, at least for now.

Excuse my language, but what a sh*t show.

The uncertainty will continue as the appeals process continues, which will likely make its way to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, “President Trump’s trade team is readying its Plan B,” according to Gavin Bade and Kim Mackrael at the Wall Street Journal. Here’s an excerpt from their article:

First, the administration is considering a stopgap effort to impose tariffs on swaths of the global economy under a never-before-used provision of the Trade Act of 1974, which includes language allowing for tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days to address trade imbalances with other countries, the people said. That would then buy time for Trump to devise individualized tariffs for each major trading partner under a different provision of the same law, used to counter unfair foreign trade practices.

That second step requires a lengthy notification and comment process, but is seen by administration officials as more legally defensible than the tariff policy that was found to be illegal this week. The alternative provision has been used many times in the past, including for Trump’s first-term tariffs on China.

Once again, I’ll refrain from over analyzing the situation since it will likely change again, and again, and again. The best advice is to stay informed and continue to communicate and collaborate with your freight forwarders, customs brokers, and other trade experts inside and outside your organization.

WiseTech Acquires e2open for $2.1 Billion

“What do you think of this acquisition?”

Several people asked me that question this week. I’ll share some initial thoughts in a minute, but first, what do customers and employees think of it? That is the more interesting question to me. Sure, “e2open shareholders representing more than 50% of the outstanding voting shares have already provided written consent approving the merger,” according to the press release, but do more than half of their customers and employees approve of it too?

Nobody ever asks them, of course. Aside from the fact that they don’t really have a say in the matter, the truth is everyone hates change. It’s human nature. Change might mean the solution I’m using will no longer be supported in the future, or it might mean my job will become redundant and I’ll soon need to add “Open to Work” on my LinkedIn profile. If you asked customers and employees what they think of a potential deal beforehand, no mergers and acquisitions would ever happen.

Okay, what do I think?

Yes, there is the usual list of risks and concerns involved in mergers and acquisitions: Are their technologies compatible? Can all these acquired pieces fit and work together well to deliver the promised benefits to customers? Should they “federate” e2open’s solutions or rewrite them to work natively with WiseTech’s existing platform (or vice versa)? Will their company cultures mesh or clash? Can they retain the best sales and R&D talent? Will the recent turmoil with WiseTech’s board and leadership team negatively affect their ability to execute this acquisition and strategy successfully?

All good questions that only time will answer.

I was drawn to the following comment in the press release by WiseTech Global Founder, Executive Chair and Chief Innovation Officer, Richard White: “Acquiring e2open is a strategically significant step in achieving our expanded vision to be the operating system for global trade and logistics [emphasis mine].”

If you’re a longtime follower, you know I am a huge proponent of what I call Supply Chain Operating Networks, the business equivalents of Facebook and LinkedIn. Instead of companies creating hundreds or thousands of one-to-one connections with their trading partners, they make a single connection to the business network, where their trading partners and thousands of other companies are also connected, and they use the cloud applications that reside on the network to communicate, collaborate, and execute business processes in more efficient, scalable, and innovative ways.

It’s been a long journey, but traditional supply chain and logistics software vendors are finally recognizing the value of network-based solutions. This WiseTech-e2open deal is one of many over the past 10+ years:

SAP’s acquisition of Ariba for $4.3 billion in 2012. Other notable transactions include:
Infor’s acquisition of GT Nexus for $675 million in 2015
e2open’s acquisition of BluJay Solutions for $1.7 billion in 2021
Trimble’s acquisition of Transporeon for €1.88 billion in 2022
Kinaxis’s acquisition of MPO for $45 million in 2022
WiseTech Global’s acquisition of Blume Global for $414 million in 2023.
Blue Yonder’s acquisition of One Network for $839 million in 2024.

So, from that standpoint, I strongly believe in WiseTech’s expanded vision. As I have said many times in recent years, Marc Andreessen’s famous quote that “Software is eating the world” needs to get updated. Today, it is more accurate to say that “Software and networks are eating the world” — especially in the supply chain and logistics world.

Realizing that vision, however, is easier said than done. But it’s the future, nonetheless.

And with that, have a meaningful weekend!

Song of the Week: “How Bizarre” by OMC