Tariff Shocks and Global Supply Chains: Network Propagation, Logistics Resilience, and System Reconfiguration—A Systematic Review

Tariffs have re-emerged as central policy instruments, yet their supply chain effects are often reduced to border-level price shocks. This systematic review synthesizes post-2018 evidence on how tariff shocks reshape global supply chains and logistics systems across pricing, sourcing and relocation, inventories and lead times, network propagation, relationship disruption, and export performance. Following a PRISMA-guided protocol, 88 peer-reviewed studies (2018–2026) were identified through Scopus and analyzed using bibliometric mapping and mechanism-centered thematic coding. Three synthesis-level findings emerge. First, exposure is frequently underestimated when measured at the border or final-product level, as tariff burdens accumulate through intermediate inputs and propagate across multi-tier production networks. Second, firms adjust gradually and combine multiple strategies, beginning with reversible actions such as rerouting, buffering, and limited diversification, and shifting to structural reconfiguration as policy credibility increases. Third, tariff-policy uncertainty acts as an independent transmission channel, delaying irreversible investments and favoring flexibility over rapid footprint redesign. Protective tariffs often underperform in multi-stage value chains because they amplify upstream costs, disrupt production hubs, and induce diversion rather than domestic upgrading. These outcomes show that tariffs function as system-level shocks that constrain supply chain optionality rather than isolated price wedges. These dynamics reveal how global logistics systems achieve resilience through buffering, rerouting, and network reconfiguration under trade war conditions. The review concludes with a research agenda prioritizing measurement of adjustment constraints, relationship re-matching dynamics, and empirically grounded operational and network models to support managerial decision-making and resilient logistics system design.