To build genuine resilience into a global supply chain, companies must shift from passive exposure to active margin engineering. In the trade compliance world, this is tariff engineering: structuring a physical asset to legitimately fall under the most favorable legal classification. R&D and engineering design for function, cost, and aesthetics — completely unaware of the HTS profiles their blueprints will trigger. Trade compliance was never given a seat at the table where the decisions that determine duty liability were actually made. James Ferry is the principal of Ferry Trade Group, a customs and global trade compliance advisory.