As large companies mull their supplier bases and evaluate payment terms amid ongoing tariff volatility, it’s become an opportune moment for supply chain financing. “There’s really a sweet spot here in the banking sector” in helping those businesses create working capital when they’re facing increased costs, said Jeremy Jansen, managing director of supply chain finance at the bank. As the Trump administration has pursued its tariff agenda, seeking to tack levies onto imports from U.S. trade partners, businesses have had to develop various strategies and discuss how to handle additional costs from potential tariffs, he said. Arguably, that’s been made more complicated by the president’s on-again, off-again, higher-then-lower approach. After announcing on April 2 a 10% baseline tariff on U.S. imports and higher “reciprocal” duties on dozens of countries, President Donald Trump said he was pausing the “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days, with the exception of those imposed on China. The tariff menu announced earlier this month had tanked global markets and prompted predictions of recession. For many companies, the lack of certainty around tariffs is making reaction plans difficult. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon pointed to a “very fluid” situation with many “variables,” saying, “We’re going to have to manage this as we always do, daily.” U.S. trade policy could remain dynamic for some time, Jansen said, and the current environment has led to an increase in the discussions Wells Fargo is having with clients about working capital and the bank’s ability to provide liquidity to suppliers and buyers of products that need to be imported. “There’s more interest from the clients to engage in the current environment, to talk about a litany of solutions,” he said. “There’s absolutely opportunities for financial institutions like ours to be engaging in those discussions with their clients.” With the higher-than-expected tariffs announced April 2, flexible financing “will be essential to businesses,” Jansen said. A traditional supply chain finance program, where a lender is financing approved invoices from a buyer, can immediately inject capital into the supply chain, he said. The bank focuses on traditional trade products, such as import and export letters of credit and supply chain financing, which provides working capital facilities for suppliers and buyers through monetization of accounts receivable. Clients of Jansen’s team include big retailers of consumer products or autos, and manufacturing companies that may have a vast network of suppliers. Given Wells’ base of corporate clients, “my team is laser focused on those names,” Jansen said. His group partners with bankers and relationship managers “to make them aware of how we can help at a time like this,” he said. A buyer client that’s a large retailer in the U.S., for example, may set up a supply chain finance program enabling them to get cash to suppliers quickly, and to stretch out payment terms, Jansen said. That creates working capital for both sides.