Logistics Management has an excellent rundown of the U.S. Presidential candidates on some key issues that could affect your supply chain.

As the elections approach, here are a few topics that you should watch closely as you seek to position your business for success:

* Card check: the new unionization drive
* 100% inspection: cargo screening and the growing cost of compliance
* Free trade frozen: threats to NAFTA
* The taxman cometh: the likelihood of tax hikes

I highly recommend reading the whole thing, which includes a handy “Supply Chain Scorecard” at the end of the article.

The 2008 elections have the potential to bring about major change, with significant implications for the supply chain sector. The risks of Card Check, NAFTA rollbacks and tax hikes all loom large. How should you respond?

Personally speaking, I think if the Card Check bill passes it will be to the detriment of the economy as a whole and disastrous for smaller companies, not to mention reducing the competitiveness of U.S. businesses in the global market. 100% screening of Air Cargo will be difficult and costly to implement, and could add significant costs to the supply chain, all of which will be passed on to the consumer. However, until it actually starts hitting consumers pockets, this is one that will most likely be broadly supported by a public largely ignorant of how the global supply chain works. And no one in Congress wants to appear soft on security. The protectionist and anti-free trade talk I hear on the campaign trail disturbs me as well. While this article talks about the Bush tax cuts with a particular emphasis on the capital gains tax, I’d like to see some discussion about candidates proposals to reduce the Federal Corporate Tax Rate. So far I believe only McCain has discussed cutting the rate from 35% down to 25%, which would be a boon to the business community and bring the U.S. down to a more competitive level compared to the rest of the world (currently the U.S. has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, only Japan is higher).

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