How Tariffs Are Impacting the Labeling Industry

How Tariffs Are Impacting the Labeling Industry

BY: JENNA WAGNER / DATE: 19/09/2025 / TOPICS: ПРОМЫШЛЕННОЕ ПРОИЗВОДСТВО, ДОСТАВКА И ПОЛУЧЕНИЕ, PRINT AUTOMATION, REGULATORY COMPLIANCE, LABEL TRACEABILITY

As the world continues to navigate new or expanded US tariffs on imported goods, manufacturers need to reevaluate their current labeling environment, especially if they decide to shift production to other countries. This is a major change for businesses, as relocating production or sourcing from domestic suppliers of raw materials also requires reexamining their labeling processes. The world is seeing how tariffs are raising prices, reducing the availability of goods and services for US businesses and consumers, and placing an economic burden on imported products.

In this blog, you’ll learn how tariffs are impacting consumers, supply chains, labeling regulations, and how enterprise labeling solutions can help.

LEARN HOW TO INCREASE LABELING EFFICIECY TO OFFSET RISING COSTS OF TARIFFS

How are tariffs impacting consumers and the supply chain?

Tariffs are no longer just impacting manufacturers; they’re beginning to increase consumer prices and purchasing behavior. According to CBS News, in July 2025, the US Producer Price Index (PPI) increased 0.9% from the previous month, marking the largest rise in over three years and far exceeding economists’ expectations of 0.2%. This means that costs once absorbed by manufacturers are now increasingly passed on to consumers.

This surge is driven by tariffs, which act as taxes on imported goods, making them more expensive than domestic products. While US tariffs aim to encourage consumers to buy more American-made goods, they also reduce the availability of imported goods and increase costs for US businesses and consumers.

How are tariffs shifting sourcing and labeling requirements?

As companies start to face higher costs due to tariffs, many are considering moving production to other countries. In the Strategist, real-life stories highlight businesses shifting production from China to countries like Cambodia or Vietnam. Some companies are even moving production to South American countries or Europe, then importing raw materials from China or Mexico, and finally shipping finished goods to the US from South America to avoid tariffs.

These sourcing shifts highlight how tariffs are impacting the labeling industry by requiring new label formats, updated compliance information, and flexible printing processes. That’s why companies need flexible labeling processes to adapt and maintain their compliance and operational efficiency.

What do companies need to do to reshore or relocate production?

When making the switch from one country to another, there are certain labeling questions companies should ask themselves beyond updating the country of origin:

• Are there any updates to language translations?
• Are there any changes to regulatory symbols?
• Are there any updates that need to be made to the manufacturing location, distributor information, or material sourcing listed on the label?
• Are there different barcode formats?

If any of the answers are yes, then making sure you meet those requirements is important. The best way to stay on top of requirements and to know which ones you must meet is to ask local regulatory consultants, trade organizations, and government export/import teams.

By building connections with these experts, you can help reduce the risk of:

• Fines
• Product recalls
• Damage to brand reputation or bad press
• Delays in production

Companies should have labeling software that allows them to quickly update their labels to meet compliance.

Labeling solutions that help you meet changing requirements

Label print automation

Automated label printing replaces the manual task of creating and printing a label with an automated process that is faster and more efficient. Print automation minimizes touchpoints within the labeling process by reducing errors from human interaction.

With automation, label printing can be triggered by using the data from your existing business system, ERP, or WMS. This integration ensures that labels are generated in real time, reflecting the most current information and compliance standards. It can automatically populate your labels and print to an unlimited number of printers. From the real-life stories above, if businesses are switching their production from China to Cambodia, their business system can automatically update the country of origin without the need to manually change each label. This also helps reduce manual errors.

As tariffs continue to change, automating your label printing can give you the confidence that the labels that you print will be accurate and compliant.

Centralized label management

Moving production to a new country can be complex, but your labeling processes shouldn’t be. Consider relying on a centralized label management system. A centralized label management solution handles label design, approval, printing, and reporting, which can help your business with complex labeling requirements. With a centralized labeling system, you can deploy, maintain, and scale globally. It can also help reduce errors and increase security and accuracy. Centralized label management also provides a browser-based printing interface that allows facilities to securely print labels from the web without installing label design software locally. This gives businesses the ability to print labels on-demand from anywhere in the world with secure user logins managed centrally. As sourcing locations change, browser-based label printing makes it easier for businesses to give new suppliers access to the labels they need.

If regulations change, so can your labels with version control and audit trails. By using centralized label management, you can have a record of changes made to an entity. Because the label audit trail includes records of any changes made to the label design, it also supports a label version history. Using label version history, you can review the changes made over time and even revert to a previous version if necessary.

TEKLYNX helps by providing reliable labeling solutions

As manufacturers continue to navigate tariff-related uncertainty, the impact on labeling should be top of mind to help avoid or recover from supply chain disruptions. As companies reshore or move production to other countries, they must be aware of new labeling rules and regulations to make sure their product labels stay compliant and are able to adapt their labels quickly.

TEKLYNX can help you navigate through changing tariffs, by providing enterprise label management solutions to help you through regulation changes. Our award-winning customer support, flexible licensing options, and professional services help you create compliant and flexible label templates that meet any of your labeling requirements. Get in touch with one of our labeling experts today to learn how TEKLYNX solutions can bring consistency to inconsistent times.

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