Sustainability
Toyota suppliers seek relief from USMCA review
Adam Farris, Toyota's director of international trade and supply chain, said at the CTA Innovation House event on Wednesday that the company is preparing for the U.S. federal government's review of the USMCA, scheduled to begin on July 1, 2026. Lena Moulckers, Toyota's director of supplier policy outreach, noted that tariffs affect all key supply chain participants, especially auto parts suppliers who are often overlooked. Toyota has collected feedback through supplier clinics and emphasized that the USMCA provides a stable framework for the North American auto industry. Leila Afas, Toyota's vice president of global public policy and strategy, warned that without the USMCA, supply chains would fragment and investment would freeze, and called for the review to focus on rules such as regional value content, avoiding excessively high thresholds that could harm industry competitiveness.
2026: The year agentic AI transforms industrial manufacturing
Global manufacturing is transitioning from digital experimentation to large-scale deployment, with Agentic AI emerging as a core trend in 2026. This article reviews the insights gained from the volatility of 2025, analyzes the evolution of AI from prediction and generation to autonomous action, emphasizes the importance of integrated platforms, data unification, and workforce skill upgrades, and points out that the integration of sustainability and profitability will be a key path for manufacturing enterprises to build resilience.