Global economic growth forecasts have been downgraded to 2.3% for 2025, making it the weakest pace outside of a recession since 2008, while trade tensions and widespread tariff hikes are creating major disruptions across supply chains worldwide. Companies are responding with remarkable agility to these changing conditions, as demonstrated by Apple shifting 97% of iPhone exports to India and Jaguar Land Rover building resilience into its EV supply chain.

• World Bank forecasts global growth at just 2.3% for 2025, down from 2.8% projected earlier
• Trade growth slowing to 1.8% in 2025, down from 3.4% in 2024, due to widespread tariffs
• Apple has shifted 97% of iPhone production to India, sending $4.4 billion worth to US in five months
• Oil prices surged 7% following Israel's strike on Iran, impacting shipping costs and causing rerouting
• Port workers in Rotterdam staged a 48-hour strike, disrupting European supply chain operations
• Jaguar Land Rover hired 50 specialists to focus on material traceability and ethical sourcing for EVs
• US and EU finalized a trade agreement reducing tariffs on technology and green energy products
• Fed and Bank of England maintained interest rates but signaled potential cuts later in the year
• Pentagon gave $200 million contract to OpenAI to develop frontier AI capabilities
• Economic indicators in the US have fallen for six straight months, triggering recession signals

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon...