Trade Agreements as a Board Game: Your Move-by-Move Tariff Strategy
Move 1: Know Your Starting Position Before you roll the dice, you need to know where you stand. In the board game of trade, your starting position is defined by your product, your supply chain, and your target markets. A small electronics manufacturer in Vietnam, for example, faces a very different board than a large chemical producer in Germany. The first move is to map your current tariff exposure: which of your inputs and finished goods cross borders, and what rates do they face without an agreement? This baseline tells you how much you stand to gain or lose from each potential deal. Next, identify your leverage. Are you a buyer of raw materials that are heavily taxed, or a seller of finished goods in a market with high tariffs? Your leverage determines which agreements are worth pursuing.