7 May 2026

By Carlos E. Ochoa, Executive Director, SCAN Association

Sharing this post from the latest edition of T21 – a leading specialized media outlet in Mexico focusing on the logistics, transportation, and foreign trade sectors, providing in-depth analysis of industry trends.

In today’s environment of geopolitical tension, supply‑chain reconfiguration, and heightened regulatory scrutiny, trust has become the most valuable currency in North American trade. For the U.S.–Mexico partnership to remain strong, security can no longer be viewed as a cost or a box‑checking exercise. It is a strategic enabler of commerce.

From the U.S. perspective, trade flows efficiently only when governments can trust that supply‑chain actors operate under robust, verifiable security standards. That is precisely the logic behind programs like CTPAT and OEA: identifying low‑risk partners so trade can move faster, not slower.
This is where SCAN (Supplier Compliance Audit Network) adds tangible value to the USMCA framework.

SCAN operationalizes trust. It connects importers already certified by the U.S. and Canadian governments with suppliers that are independently audited under globally recognized security standards aligned with CTPAT, OEA, and the WCO SAFE Framework. By doing so, SCAN translates government‑to‑government trust into factory‑level, importer‑level, and supply‑chain‑level confidence.

For governments, this means:

Greater visibility and consistency across shared supply chains
Independent, credible evidence of compliance beyond country‑level recognition

Reduced risk without creating friction for legitimate trade
For the USMCA, it means transforming security into facilitation—supporting nearshoring, regional integration, and resilience while preserving strong enforcement.

The equation is simple but powerful:
Security enables trust. Trust enables facilitation. Facilitation sustains USMCA.

In a world where trust moves trade, supply‑chain security is the common language—and initiatives like SCAN help ensure both governments are speaking it with confidence.

Security and trust: the invisible architecture that underpins the USMCA – T21

13 March 2026
By Anh Nhi, VnEconomy

Global trade is evolving rapidly, and for export-driven businesses, social responsibility and cybersecurity are no longer optional—they are essential. This article highlights how companies must meet increasing expectations around ethical sourcing, supply chain transparency, and data protection to maintain access to key markets like the U.S. and EU. It also explores how initiatives like SCAN are helping organizations strengthen compliance, reduce audit burdens, and build trust through secure data sharing and emerging technologies like blockchain. Read the full article to learn how these “passports” to global trade are reshaping the future of supply chain operations.

Social Responsibility and Cybersecurity seen as “passport” for export enterprises – VnEconomy

April 2020 – BSI, the business improvement company, announced today that they are providing open access to the COVID-19 section of their Supply Chain Risk Exposure Evaluation Network (SCREEN) tool.

SCREEN is a web-based, comprehensive global supply chain intelligence system available by subscription, which includes valuable information for companies to anticipate, quickly respond to, and avoid supply chain disruptions.

As referenced in BSI’s recently released Supply Chain Risk Insights 2020 Report, the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the current fragility of global supply chains, wherein the failure of one link in the chain has the potential to cause extensive disruptions throughout.

As the pandemic has progressed, causing considerable disruption to every-day life and a negative impact on the workforce, companies have had to significantly re-evaluate their supply chains. Initially this was caused by the downtime and slowed restart of Chinese manufacturing, however the continued spread of the pandemic has led to complex and varied responses by individual governments to contain the virus, creating further disruptions and requiring businesses to adopt adaptive business continuity measures.

Whether this means that restaurants are closing their dining rooms and only providing carry-out and delivery, or hospitals restricting access to anyone other than critical patients, the New Not Normal is here and the need for comprehensive business continuity planning that considers all types of potential natural disasters, including disease outbreaks, has never been more acute.

Lessons learned from the COVID-19 outbreak about how to better mitigate disease spread and absorb delays to manufacturing and global shipping will shape how organizations and supply chains are effectively able to respond to other disruptions in the future.

For this reason, BSI is providing open access to SCREEN’s COVID-19 intelligence. “These insights will allow companies to sharpen their actions in the face of this crisis, focus their business continuity plans for their recovery and have a stronger continuity plan for the future,” said Jim Yarbrough, Global Intelligence Program Manager at BSI. “Our priority is to bring the global community reliable and actionable insights and information, curated by our team of experts, around COVID-19 to protect public health and mitigate business disruption.”

To view the SCREEN COVID-19 intelligence, visit: screen.bsigroup.com/Covid19/