Earlier this week, I woke up to the following text from my wife, who had already left for work:
That article from The Free Press is one of many making the rounds right now — including a viral blog post titled “Something Big Is Happening” by Matt Shumer (though both the author and the post have since faced significant scrutiny and criticism) — warning that AI is about to upend just about everything.
As a Cold War kid, you know what actually freaks me out: nuclear weapons.
Press a button and we all die — we’ve been living under that constant threat for decades.
And with everything happening in the world today — Iran, North Korea, Russia — my internal worry meter hasn’t been this active since the 1980s.
AI? Climate change? Please. We’re more likely to destroy ourselves with a nuke long before either of those delivers a true existential blow.
Unless, of course, an asteroid beats us to it.
—
On a brighter note, here’s the supply chain and logistics news that caught my attention this week:
- America Imported a Record Amount Last Year Despite Seismic Trade Policy Changes (WSJ – sub. req’d)
- Mexico Overtakes Canada as No. 1 Destination For U.S. Exports (WSJ – sub. req’d)
- Trade War Puts Compliance Professionals in the Spotlight (Dow Jones Risk Journal)
- Hapag-Lloyd buys Israel’s ZIM for $4.2 billion in global shipping tie-up (Reuters)
- Trump Administration Issues Maritime Action Plan (Winston & Strawn)
- Agility Robotics Announces Commercial Agreement with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada
- Amazon Quietly Killed Its New Warehouse Robot Just Months After Launch (Inc.)
- Werner restructures one-way truckload business, takes $44M charge (TruckingDive)
- Transportation Department says more than 550 driving schools must close over safety failures (AP)
- Cass Transportation Index Report January 2026
- Brambles Aims to Expand Widespread Pallet Tracking to U.S. (WSJ – sub. req’d)
Once again, today could be the day the Supreme Court rules on the legality of the Trump tariffs under IEEPA. If it does, your inbox and social feeds will be flooded with commentary in the days ahead — and I’ll probably add my two cents sometime next week.
In the meantime, the tariffs appear to have done little to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. As Matt Grossman reported in The Wall Street Journal:
Imports to the U.S. grew to a record high in 2025, leaving the trade deficit little changed despite steep Trump administration tariffs aimed at closing trade gaps.
The nation’s trade deficit — the gap between imports and exports in both goods and services — was $901.5 billion last year, slightly smaller than the $903.5 billion deficit recorded in 2024, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The small change shows America’s role as a heavy net importer remains intact, at least thus far, despite seismic policy shifts during the year.
So who has benefited most from all this global trade turmoil? Trade compliance professionals.
“President Trump’s on-again, off-again approach to tariffs over the past year has brought trade-compliance professionals into the limelight as companies race to comply with frequently changing rules and regulations,” writes Liz Young in the Dow Jones Risk Journal. In the same article, Colleen Erickson — who spent more than two decades in trade compliance at companies including Medtronic, Target, and Honeywell — put it this way:
“Companies are starting to recognize and really realize that this isn’t just something that is a nice-to-have — this is a must-have.”
Just as the Covid pandemic elevated the role of supply chain leaders in the C-suite, the tariff rollercoaster is doing the same for trade compliance. If you still think trade compliance is just paperwork, you might want to reconsider — because in today’s environment, it’s becoming a strategic function at the center of risk management, cost control, and competitive advantage.
And with that, have a meaningful weekend!
Song of the Week: “What You Say” by Cold War Kids
