Scott Martens, distinguished service professor of operations and supply chain management at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, recently sat down with the Minnesota Star Tribune for a Q&A on global trade, supply chains and tariffs.
From the interview:
The U.S. needs global trade. However, the country needs to be smart about the policies around it, including tariffs, one local expert says.
Scott Martens – who cut his supply-chain chops in the military, worked for Twin Cities companies and now is a University of St. Thomas professor – says the discussion around supply chains and tariffs needs to include national security implications. ...
Q: Where do you fall on international trade?
A: I’m an old Navy guy. Global trade keeps the U.S. Navy in business. My dad always used to poke fun by asking me why I drove a VW and Mazda. I told him as a Navy guy, it was for job security!
Bottom line: I’m all about global, free and fair trade, but I think the U.S. needs to have smart global trade. We can no longer have predominantly sole sources of supply and critical sources of production running through our adversaries. The risk to national security is unacceptable.
Q: How do tariffs impact a company’s supply chain?
A: We live in a capitalistic society. Capitalism is not perfect, but the best system out there. It’s based upon sending signals via price in the marketplace. Tariffs are a price signal imposed by the government on trade. As tariffs increase, public companies, which have their goal of making money for shareholders as their primary purpose of existence, are incented via the tariff signal to seek alternative sources of “cheaper” supply.
