Over the last few decades, just-in-time just-in-time has been one of the mantras of the manufacturing industry, building today's global supply chains, which are indispensable to ensure the just-in-time supply of all components for the manufacture of a product.

The trade war between the U.S. and China and the pandemic that followed - and the supply chain chaos it caused - has put the concept of just-in-case back on the lips of the logistics industry. just-in-caseThe US-China trade war first and then the pandemic - and the chaos it caused in the supply chain - has put the concept of just-in-case back on the lips of the logistics industry.

The new idea of just-in-case does not mean going back to the old ways of maintaining large inventories of components. Rather, it encompasses concepts such as nearshoring and the new friendshoringdeveloping sources of supply close to home and in geopolitically reliable territories.

For the U.S. market, Latin America can play that role. It is an opportunity that members of CAFTA-DR (the Central American plus Dominican Republic free trade agreement) are eager to take advantage of, leveraging the strong integration they already have in some industries, such as textiles and medical supplies.

According to the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Mauricio-Claver Carone, if Latin America manages to capture 15% of imports from the 10 largest U.S. suppliers located outside the Western Hemisphere, it could increase its exports by US$70 billion annually.