[author: Tina Gullì]
How are you advising businesses in your jurisdiction when protecting themselves from the impact of trade wars and sanctions, and what strategies can professional services firms offer to mitigate these risks?
We support the companies to which we provide professional services through:
- Legal and compliance advice to interpret complex and constantly evolving regulations, assisting in the development of robust legal and commercial risk management plans.
- Technology solutions for real-time monitoring of sanctions, regulatory changes, and supply chain disruptions.
- Asset and tax protection strategies to optimise tax residency, utilise appropriate corporate structures, and implement asset protection tools in a compliant and strategic manner.
- Support with supply chain restructuring and operational management, aimed at ensuring business continuity and resilience amid geopolitical uncertainty.
In short, a combination of risk mapping, diversification, rigorous compliance, and tailored professional advice enables companies to mitigate effectively the risks arising from trade wars and sanctions.
Our firm collaborates with legal and commercial experts to help clients stay abreast of global developments, including sanctions, tariffs, and retaliatory measures. We place particular emphasis on analysing the impact of trade policies on supply chains, markets, and production costs—considering first-tier suppliers and end customers. Diversification is key: we advise clients to explore new markets and trade agreements, particularly within the EU, to reduce reliance on any single market or region. Strategies include supply chain mapping, identifying critical components, and diversifying product portfolios to respond to market demands and reduce exposure to trade barriers.
We also recommend strengthening supply chain resilience through transparency, maintaining buffer stocks, and adopting crisis response mechanisms to enhance business continuity and flexibility.
Are you seeing shifts in supply chain strategies due to geopolitical conflicts? How can you help clients restructure supply chains to maintain resilience and regulatory compliance?
Yes. To assist clients in restructuring their supply chains amid geopolitical tensions, our firm takes the following practical steps:
- Supplier diversification and multi-sourcing, to reduce dependency on individual countries or suppliers. We encourage nearshoring and friendshoring approaches, bringing production closer to end markets and reducing geopolitical exposure.
- Adoption of advanced digital technologies—such as AI, IoT, and blockchain—for real-time supply chain monitoring, disruption forecasting, and enhanced traceability. These tools support more proactive and data-driven decision-making.
- Development of contingency and risk mitigation plans, including scenario planning, strategic stockpiling, and establishing alternative transport routes to ensure operational continuity.
- Implementation of agile organisational models and integrated planning, fostering collaboration across departments and end-to-end supply chain integration for better adaptability.
- Integration of circular economy and sustainability practices, such as the use of refurbished equipment or recycled materials, which reduces dependence on critical resources and helps meet ESG obligations.
These combined actions help our clients build supply chains that are not only more resilient and flexible, but also compliant with relevant regulations and prepared to withstand global shocks.
Alternative production hubs in Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Eastern Europe are being actively considered, despite continued challenges in Ukraine. Regionalisation, nearshoring, and friendshoring strategies are enabling companies to reduce delivery times and geopolitical risk. At the same time, we are seeing a shift towards greater inventory levels and buffer stocks for critical inputs and finished goods—improving resilience, albeit at a higher cost. Investment in supply chain visibility tools is also increasing, with AI, IoT, and blockchain playing a central role in mapping complex, multi-tier supply chains and identifying hidden vulnerabilities. Critical components are increasingly subject to dual or multi-sourcing strategies to ensure security of supply.
With global markets in flux, how can businesses balance risk and opportunity in cross-border trade, and what strategic guidance can you provide?
Our clients engaged in cross-border trade must navigate a volatile global environment by adopting a well-structured internationalisation strategy tailored to each target market.
To balance risks and opportunities, we recommend:
- Comprehensive market analysis and planning—assessing demand, competition, and regulatory frameworks in each jurisdiction to identify both risks and opportunities.
- Risk diversification—expanding the client base across multiple countries reduces dependency on any single market and mitigates exposure to local economic or political shocks.
- Dynamic risk management—utilising financial instruments such as currency hedging and trade credit insurance to manage volatility as part of the broader international strategy.
- Strategic partnerships—collaborating with established local or international firms to ease market entry, reduce contextual risk, and support cultural and regulatory alignment.
- Global marketing strategies with local adaptation—ensuring brand consistency while tailoring messaging and offerings to local preferences and norms.
- Careful choice of entry method—evaluating options such as direct or indirect exporting, franchising, licensing arrangements, joint ventures, or wholly owned subsidiaries, based on cost, control, and risk.
- Development of detailed operational plans—defining objectives, resource needs, and governance structures, including the role of an Export Manager to liaise with foreign partners.
- Ongoing monitoring and flexibility—maintaining active oversight of market conditions and being prepared to adapt strategies in response to economic, geopolitical, or regulatory shifts.
In summary, our principal recommendation is that clients adopt an integrated approach—combining rigorous market research, structured risk management, tailored local partnerships, and strategic flexibility. This enables businesses to seize global opportunities while remaining resilient in the face of uncertainty.
Key Takeaways:
- Firms are assisting businesses with geopolitical risk by combining legal compliance, real-time monitoring technologies, and tax-efficient corporate structures to navigate sanctions and trade conflicts. Risk mapping, diversification, and supply chain adaptation are core components.
- Geopolitical instability has led many clients to shift towards nearshoring and friendshoring, reduce single-country dependencies, and adopt real-time AI and blockchain tools to enhance transparency. Multi-sourcing, circular economy practices, and increased stockpiling are becoming standard.
- Strategic internationalisation is no longer optional. Businesses are advised to pursue data-driven market analysis, dynamic risk management with financial hedging tools, and local partnerships.
- Entry models must be tailored per jurisdiction, with ongoing flexibility to adjust for rapid change.
