Day: September 18, 2025

• Sweeping tariffs on many US imports are affecting how companies do business.
• Some companies are using AI tools to secure more favorable vendor prices and handle logistics.
• This article is part of “How AI is Changing Everything: Supply Chain,” a series on innovations in logistics.

A central policy of President Donald Trump’s second administration has been sweeping tariffs on imports from more than 90 countries, leading to uncertainty that has hung over global supply chains throughout 2025.

The disruption has only recently subsided as the US has secured deals with major trading partners like the European Union, South Korea, and Japan, all striking deals that settled on a 15% tariff rate. Tariffs are still far higher in places like India and Brazil, both of which the Trump administration stamped with a 50% tariff rate this summer.

As companies of various sizes reckon with these rising tariff costs, they’re taking charge where they can: with AI-assisted technologies that can help them lower their manufacturing and logistics costs.

AI can help companies get lower vendor prices

For Solventum, a company that produces surgical and dental supplies, tariff increases emerged as the healthcare company was celebrating its first year as a stand-alone business, following a spinoff from the industrial conglomerate 3M.

Magnus Lundgren, Solventum’s senior vice president and chief procurement officer, said the company sought a digital tool that could streamline its competitive-bidding process. The company also wanted a tool that could lock in lower costs from the vendors it works with to buy chemicals, packaging materials, and electromechanical components, said Lundgren.

Solventum struck a deal with Arkestro, which uses AI to help businesses secure better pricing terms faster with suppliers, and onboarded them just as the tariffs began to come into effect in April, said Lundgren.

The company uses Arkestro’s procurement platform, which blends AI, machine learning, game theory, and human behavior to evaluate suppliers, including their ability to deliver goods on time and their pricing patterns. Then, it recommends the optimal contractors for Solventum.

Lundgren said the tool has helped speed up the process of vetting competitive bids from suppliers and can identify when a vendor has switched from making goods abroad to domestic production.

In some cases, Lundgren said Solventum has seen double-digit savings on the cost of goods.

“It’s not a guarantee every time, but the tool really drives to a new, reduced price point,” Lundgren told Business Insider.

Similarly, JR Metal Works, a small Wisconsin-based manufacturer of pipes, metal, and plates for the defense, aerospace, and utilities industries, works with Xometry, an AI-based marketplace that connects manufacturers with suppliers. Xometry utilizes AI algorithms to analyze a part’s materials and manufacturing requirements to generate a pricing quote for manufacturers.

Jesse Kleiman, the founder and owner of JR Metal Works, said the company relies on Xometry’s AI-assisted pricing model, which updates automatically when tariff rates and subsequently material costs change.

AI is making it easier for The Light Phone to ship internationally

Joe Hollier, the cofounder of The Light Phone, said that AI was a key tool in deciding how the company should respond to tariff hikes.

At the time, The Light Phone, which sells pared-down cellphones to consumers, was shipping all of its devices from China to the US and then exporting them to foreign markets like Canada, Australia, and the European Union.

In March, the company was gearing up to launch a third iteration of its minimalist phone, but Hollier said The Light Phone halted production due to tariff-related uncertainty. With tariffs affecting multiple markets, the startup would be hit with a tax twice, both when importing into the US and then exporting internationally.

“We got hit basically as hard as we could,” said Hollier. “It really made it hard and financially straining, and at times impossible, to ship internationally.”

The Light Phone pivoted in two ways. First, the company said it added an international fulfillment center, so it can avoid US tariffs for any international orders between China and other international markets.

Hollier said that in response to the tariffs, the company began to rely on Mayple Global, an AI-supported e-commerce platform. Mayple uses AI to generate standardized system codes, which in turn create the unique product classification needed for every device that The Light Phone sells. Mayple’s AI tools can also automatically generate product descriptions, invoices, and clearance documents necessary for all of The Light Phone’s international shipments.

“Our prices have gone down significantly,” said Hollier. He added that by bypassing US tariffs for international customers, the company has seen savings of at least 20% on the cost of its goods.

“We’re looking forward to passing that on to the user,” Hollier said.

• I recently left my home in New York to move across the country and start med school at Stanford.
• My weeks are busy, filled with long lectures and social engagements.
• Although medical school is difficult and involves working with cadavers, I’m building community.

There’s a quiet moment each morning — just before the sun slips through the blinds, before I call my best friend asking if we are both catching the 8:46 a.m. shuttle to our first lecture — when I find myself missing my family.

A few months ago, I graduated from college, packed my suitcases, and said goodbye to my parents to start medical school at Stanford. It was my first time in the Bay, and when I called my mother after landing, I admitted how simultaneously nervous and eager I felt about rebuilding my community from scratch.

People warned me that medical school would be hard. They didn’t quite emphasize how beautiful it would also be.

This is what a week in my life looks like at Stanford.

Before the busy week started, I connected with friends on campus.

Over the weekend, after a lovely spontaneous trip to the beach, about a dozen of us gathered in a communal kitchen for a meal prep potluck.

The idea was simple: everyone brings a dish and tupperware to take home a little of everyone else’s cooking — enough food to last us for the entire week. I made roasted broccoli with garlic and fava beans. It turned out to be a lavish feast.

Within my medical school class, sharing meals, cooking together, and taking care of each other have become a welcome constant in our schedules.

On Monday, I spent 12 hours in lectures.

I was at the medical center from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., starting with two genetics lectures in the morning before transitioning into Practice of Medicine.

POM is a course designed to help both medical and physician-assistant students apply scientific concepts to real-world clinical care.

POM emphasizes that a patient’s ZIP code matters just as much as their genetic code when it comes to healthcare, if not more.

We spent the rest of the day beginning the certification process for QPR suicide prevention training, a reminder of the more sobering side of medicine.

On Tuesday, I worked on cadavers before another busy day of meetings.

All the students in the room remained quiet as we examined the cadaver. I realized how profound a privilege it is to work with a donor body.

My TA told us about an annual donor ceremony in November, and how, at last year’s event, a donor’s daughter shared her mother’s story: an immigrant who had never had access to higher education. When the mother learned she was eligible to give her body through Stanford’s Anatomical Gift Program, her daughter remembered her mother saying, “I made it to Stanford. I finally made it to college.”

After lab, I attended a biweekly student government meeting, where I discussed upcoming events and budgeting with the other officers. I also planned a party for two classmates with September birthdays.

Wednesdays are my day off, but I take this time to focus on extracurriculars.

I started the morning reading from Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian.” By mid-morning, the sky had opened up in a rare California downpour — the first since I arrived.

While waiting for the rain to pass, I attended a meeting for Flu Crew, a student-run organization that provides free flu and vaccine shots to mostly uninsured and non-English-speaking members of the community.

Later, I scootered across campus to a research meeting on cystic fibrosis. I wrapped up my genetics problem set and discussed my results with a classmate before heading to a boba social hosted by the Asian and Pacific Islander medical student association.

On Thursday, I had another cadaver lab before heading to the grocery store with a friend.

Thursday’s cadaver lab focused on identifying the nerves, vessels, and muscles in the armpit region.

When classes ended, I carved out some time to unwind. I headed downtown with a friend, window-shopped, and grabbed groceries. Back home, I did laundry so I could have fresh scrubs for the coming week.

In the evening, a friend and I enjoyed our dinner near the Stanford Oval, a sunken lawn with stunning flowerbeds and walkways open to the public.

I get to sleep in on Fridays, but the rest of the day is still busy.

After a morning genetics lecture and lunch with my advising dean, I went to the day’s POM session, which focused on health equity from a disability lens. We worked through clinical cases that pushed us to consider ethical considerations in the care of patients with disabilities.

The day wrapped up with an honest, heartwarming panel of patients and providers sharing their experiences navigating disability healthcare.

My week is filled with building community on campus while I’m far from home.

At our white-coat ceremony back in August, an event that marks the beginning of a medical student’s journey, I found myself missing my own family 3,000 miles away.

However, it brought me indescribable joy watching the way my classmates looked at one another, at their families, and at the people who showed up for them. There was this quiet but powerful potential brewing among the crowd.

That feeling doesn’t have to fade, and I want to protect it during my next four years in medical school.