Free Trade in Free Fall: How Companies Can Navigate the Pandemic

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Free Trade in Free Fall: How Companies Can Navigate the Pandemic

Even before the global pandemic arrived in every corner of the globe, free trade and the globalized trading system were in critical condition. The bruising U.S.-China trade war, along with regional conflicts such as the Japan-Korea trade war, Brexit, import tariffs, the decline of the WTO, left companies struggling to adjust supply chains and many wondering whether the globalized trading system will survive.

Yet these challenges pale in comparison to the trade and supply chain issues the COVID-19 pandemic generates on a nearly-hourly basis. Demand has plummeted around the world for goods and services as vast portions of humanity are isolated in their homes and left without incomes. Export restrictions on medical supplies, food and other critical products, while still limited, are on the rise, creating fears of reverse protectionism. Airfreight capacity has dropped as tens of thousands of flights are grounded. Logistics companies are struggling to deliver goods as nearly every country in the world has implemented ever-tightening border restrictions in a matter of weeks.

As a result, companies and individuals are struggling to keep our grocery stores, pharmacies, and retailers stocked with the cheap and plentiful products consumers have grown accustomed to, not to mention supply the medicine and equipment that our frontline healthcare workers desperately need. While these are dark days in trade, there are ways to immediately protect your company and your supply chain.

First, companies must protect their workers from the disease. Crisis management procedures to keep people healthy, whether that means remote working procedures or social distancing policies to keep production facilities running, should be implemented and revisited as the crisis moves on. While most companies have implemented these policies as a result of government orders, companies should continuously evaluate how to both keep their employees safe and their companies running. Fighting this disease and its economic ramifications is a marathon, not a sprint, so companies should find ways to maintain continuity as long as possible.

Next, now is the time to be hands-on with your supply chain. Companies need to examine every aspect of their supply chain and logistics: every container, every ship, every truck, every port, and every border crossing. In this way, you can understand how your goods must pass to understand how the pandemic will affect each shipment. Seafreight remains stable, though that could change, so companies with any slack in their supply chain should consider moving goods in advance through slower means.

Companies also need a proactive examination of their legal risks.  This assessment must include a review of which contracts may be broken through force majeure and other similar break clauses, whether initiated by you or the other party. At first, only producers were using force majeure as they realized they did not have the raw materials, labor shortages, and logistical support to deliver products. Now, importers and end-users are breaking their contracts as demand drops and shops close. Similarly, insurance markets are struggling to find ways to insure goods, services, and even projects as supply chain issues threaten to slow projects around the world. A holistic examination of your legal risks will save your company money and time when legal challenges arise.

Companies also need to find help from their governments. Governments are looking to help companies stay afloat, keep people employed, and keep goods and services flowing, but they are frequently looking for answers from companies. If you are not part of a trade association, join one. And if you do not have representation in Washington, now is the time to make sure that government authorities know how best to help your company and industry navigate this crisis and to remind them of the value that trade brings to communities around the world, and where you need help.

The COVID-19 crisis will leave the global trading system permanently altered, but it is also a reminder that, just as our physical health is intertwined with our neighbors, our economic health is also dependent. Long-standing trade relationships are under strain, contracts will be voided, and shipments unfulfilled. Yet a healthy dose of compassion and understanding that your business partners are facing the same challenges as your company may help you maintain your trading relationships through these hard times and allow them to rebound faster when the crisis is over.

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Benjamin Kostrzewa is a Registered Foreign Lawyer at Hogan Lovells, working in Hong Kong and Washington serving the needs of clients on both sides of the Pacific. Before joining Hogan Lovells he served as Assistant General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

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