Trade policy under the Trump administration has continued to shift rapidly amid tariff measures and geopolitical tension, including conflict involving Iran, but this has not achieved its stated goal of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States. In a Decoder podcast interview, Evan Smith, co-founder and chief executive of supply-chain software firm Altana, told host Nilay Patel that the reshoring effect promised by tariffs simply has not materialised, based on the extensive global trade data his company tracks.

Altana builds software that helps businesses manage complex international supply chains, giving Smith a broad, data-driven view of how trade patterns are actually changing. He noted that global supply chains remain essential despite the tariff push, while pressure on key economic chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz is set to intensify. The conversation, a follow-up to an interview from early 2025, also touched on how developments in agentic AI are reshaping both what Altana's software can do and how the company itself operates.