5 Global Supply Chain Trends Executives Need to Watch for 2026

Article Highlights:

• Whether it’s sourcing vulnerabilities, supplier greedflation, or the push for onshoring as tariffs rise, the sheer variety and number of challenges manufacturers face are growing. 
• The current trade and tariff landscape makes single sourcing even more risky, as the costs associated with a specific supplier or manufacturing nation are less predictable than ever. Businesses that rely on a single source for materials, parts, and subassemblies are leaving themselves vulnerable to sudden changes to tariff rates and other trade barriers.
• Some businesses have reported that some of their suppliers have been citing inflation as rationale for raising prices—even when there’s little evidence that tariffs are impacting them. 
• Some businesses have already moved part of their manufacturing operations stateside, and the past few months have seen several major tech firms announce plans to invest in U.S. manufacturing.
• Businesses that want to give themselves the data, insights, and real-time updates essential to proactively managing risk should seek out supply chain risk management (SCRM) software. 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain executives and sourcing professionals could be forgiven for allowing themselves the luxury of envisioning a period of relative stability. Businesses had just endured a once-in-a-century public health emergency, a multifaceted catastrophe that shut down factories, triggered sweeping shortages, and sowed disorder throughout global supply chains. 

If there was a period of calm and predictability, it was exceedingly short-lived. The past two years have reinforced that the 2020s will be dominated by dynamic, unpredictable events that threaten to disrupt supply chains and keep procurement teams forever on their toes.

Whether it’s in the form of emerging sourcing vulnerabilities, greedflation risks, or the prospect of onshoring, the sheer variety and number of challenges manufacturers face are growing. In this article we’ve compiled the five we think will play a significant role for most manufacturers in 2026. 

1. The Increased Risks with Single Source Manufacturing 

Always a precarious way to manage supply chains, single sourcing is now arguably riskier than ever. In today’s ever-evolving trade landscape, it’s nearly impossible to predict the tariffs and other trade barriers between the U.S. and other countries more than a few weeks in advance. Reasonable import levies on countries like, say, Thailand and Malaysia today could become more burdensome by the fall, driving up the cost of sourcing from suppliers in those nations. 

Why Is Single Sourcing More Risky Now Than Ever Before? 

With more trade deals on the horizon and multiple years left in the U.S.’s current presidential administration, this perpetual instability is poised to grow even worse in 2026. This makes single sourcing even more hazardous, as the costs associated with a specific supplier or manufacturing nation are less predictable than ever. Businesses that rely on a single source for materials, parts, and subassemblies are leaving themselves vulnerable to sudden changes to tariff rates and other trade barriers. In addition, any supply chain disruptions or shortages can trigger a bottleneck, putting organizations at the mercy of a single manufacturer. 

U.S.-based original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) need to have the agility to move to other suppliers—or at least rebalance their orders between different manufacturers—if abrupt changes to the trade landscape impact their sourcing. Many companies have some single-source vulnerabilities in their supply chain, whether because certain components have fewer crosses or their supply chain risk management (SCRM) has not been sufficiently built out. 

Such supply chain weaknesses pose a significantly higher risk today than in the past, however, because the U.S. tariff regime introduces an entirely new variable—one that nobody can control, let alone mitigate. The rationale behind multisourcing—sometimes also referred to as “splitting”—has never been stronger. 

The rationale behind multisourcing—sometimes also referred to as “splitting”—has never been stronger. 

2. The Rise of Greedflation in Global Supply Chains

What Is Greedflation, and Where Did It Come From?

Greedflation is a term coined during the pandemic to refer to corporations that invoked inflation as a justification for raising prices to drive up profits. According to research conducted in the immediate aftermath of the global outbreak, profits increased at a significantly faster rate than inflation for many of the world’s largest corporations. According to one oft-cited study, profits rose by an astounding 30%, on average, among larger corporations in the U.S., the U.K., Europe, and Brazil between 2019 and 2022. 

Much of the academic research carried out over the past several years has corroborated the idea that the runaway inflation that materialized in 2021 and 2022 was at least partly a result of corporations seeking to juice their profits under the cover of a generational event. 

Is Greedflation Coming Back in 2026?

Now, there’s evidence that this phenomenon has returned in 2025, with tariffs serving as the new smokescreen for profit-seeking suppliers and manufacturers. While it’s too early for any concrete research to be conducted, businesses have been anecdotally reporting that some of their suppliers have been citing inflation as rationale for raising prices—even when there’s little evidence that tariffs are impacting them. 

Lehigh University’s Supply Chain Risk Management Index supports these fears. In the index’s edition for the third quarter of 2025, the researchers quoted one supply chain professional saying, “Vendors are trying to increase costs artificially — the tariffs are a nightmare.” While instances of greedflation resurfacing appear to be occurring in individual instances, rather than on a widespread scale, that could change quickly as the Trump administration’s tariff regime takes a more permanent form. The phenomenon is something to watch for in 2026. 

3. The Push for Onshore Manufacturing to the U.S. 

When the Trump administration communicated its plans to start implementing significant tariffs on trading partners all over the world, one of its stated goals was to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. If businesses were forced to pay a premium of 15%, 20%, or even 30% to import parts and materials from foreign countries, the thinking went, they would start to seriously consider sourcing domestically. 

While the response has been gradual, more and more companies are beginning to reveal onshoring (also known as reshoring) initiatives. Some businesses have already moved part of their manufacturing operations stateside, and the past few months have seen a flurry of major tech firms announce plans to invest in U.S. manufacturing. 

Which Companies Have Announced Manufacturing in the U.S.?

Companies that have publicized plans in 2025 to bring manufacturing to the U.S. include:

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
• Eli Lilly
• GE Aerospace
• Apple
• Nvidia
• Johnson & Johnson

While some of these announcements may be isolated instances of companies onshoring production—either due to their own unique circumstances or because they can afford the U.S.’s higher costs—they almost certainly portend a more sweeping shift in supply chains to come. The stage is being set, in other words, for a significant onshoring trend to materialize in 2026. 

4. Unpredictable Tariff Adjustments & Changing Trade Negotiations

If there’s one thing we’ve learned during the first few months of the Trump administration’s tariffs, it’s that nothing is fixed and everything is subject to change. Countries with substantial tariffs today need only head to the negotiating table with the Trump administration, and maintain an openness to U.S. demands, in order to secure a more favorable rate. Considering the pace of trade deals as of early August, it’s entirely possible that President Trump and his chief trade negotiators, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, will still be hammering out deals deep into 2026. 

Why a Fluid Trade Landscape Favors Agile Businesses

For American OEMs, this means that agility is critical to maintaining supply chain resilience. U.S. businesses cannot afford to go all-in on one supplier, country, or even region, because the dynamic trade landscape could change the cost-benefit analysis of those relationships quickly. Rather, the Trump era of trade favors flexibility and nimble supply chains that are multisourced, diversified, and distributed across countries and regions. 

5. The Adoption of AI for Supply Chain Risk Management

Any discussion of the near-term future of supply chain risk management would be incomplete if it didn’t mention the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence. As with myriad other sectors, the latest iterations of AI hold the promise of playing a fundamental role in the future of supply chains and SCRM. Unlike some of those other industries, however, AI in SCRM has already established several viable use-cases that are actively demonstrating value for supply chain executives and their teams:

• Supply chain mapping
• Alternative suppliers and supply chain diversification
• Demand forecasting
• Predictive maintenance
• Risk sensing

What Other Ways Can AI Be Used for SCRM?

According to a 2024 survey carried out by Gartner, 40% of high-performing supply chain organizations are already utilizing AI for demand forecasting, while nearly a third were using it to inform their supply planning. As we approach 2026, those figures should gradually tick up. A key development to watch for, though, is what other AI use-cases are adopted on a large scale in 2026. Will businesses unnerved by the current trade landscape lean on artificial intelligence to diversify their supply chains and practice multisourcing more consistently? Or will the technology come to play a larger role in risk identification and assessment, helping organizations isolate threats among their direct suppliers and deep within their sub-tiers?

According to a 2024 survey carried out by Gartner, 40% of high-performing supply chain organizations are already utilizing AI for demand forecasting, while nearly a third were using it to inform their supply planning.

Steer Your Business Into an Uncertain Future With Z2Data

“Unpredictable” has become something of a byword for supply chains in the 2020s. Whether it’s inflation, shortages triggered by armed conflicts, or the rise of protectionist trade policies, this decade has already seen more than its share of transformational forces. Given this context, it’s hardly going out on a limb to say that 2026 is poised to be another tumultuous year for supply chains. Businesses that want to give themselves the data, insights, and real-time updates essential to proactively managing risk should seek out supply chain risk management (SCRM) software. 

SCRM platform Z2Data gives companies the tools to navigate these and other supply chain variables with dexterity and decisiveness. Z2Data’s three solutions—Supply Chain Risk Management, Compliance and Sustainability, and Electronic Supply Chain—help organizations in a range of key areas:

• Analyze supplier risk
• Map suppliers
• Gain sub-tier visibility
• Assess compliance 
• Determine exposure to disruptions in real time
• Mitigate vulnerabilities with maximum proficiency

Z2Data’s capabilities, which are augmented by AI and encompass various tariff resources, give firms the power to effectively mitigate whatever new supply chain risks 2026 has in store. 

To learn more about how the Z2Data platform can help your business prepare for 2026 and beyond, schedule a free demo with one of our product experts.