According to a survey by Gartner, Inc., 45% of supply chain leaders anticipate passing costs to their customers as their primary strategy for mitigating new tariff costs. Forty-three percent of respondents stated they would mitigate the costs through various supply chain initiatives as their primary strategy (see Figure 1).
“Supply chain leaders have many potential levers to pull from in mitigating new costs related to tariffs,” said Vicky Forman, Senior Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. “While supply chain leaders have multiple initiatives underway to potentially lessen the impacts, many of these actions have yet to be completed.”
Figure 1: Passing Costs to Customer is Top Supply Chain Tariff Strategy
Source: Gartner (April 2025)
- Renegotiating supplier contracts (47%)
- Exploring collaboration opportunities with suppliers (43%)
- Addressing country of origin, valuation and other trade management tactics (40%)
- Adjusting supply locations outside the United States (39%)
- Adjusting production locations outside of the United States (26%)
- Pulling inventory forward (23%)
