How Jonah at Inventry.ai Solves the Same Strategic Risk That Small Businesses Are Suing Over
A recent piece in Supply Chain Dive highlights a major legal and financial risk facing U.S. companies: several states and small businesses are urging the Supreme Court to block President Trump’s sweeping tariffs, arguing that the levies go way beyond his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
These plaintiffs contend that the tariffs, imposed unilaterally under emergency powers, amount to an unprecedented “$3 trillion tax increase” on American businesses.They warn that the levies are destabilizing supply chains, inflating costs, and undermining companies’ ability to plan — especially for smaller firms that rely heavily on imported inputs.
Why this matters for procurement teams: volatile external policies like this create huge uncertainty — from lead times to landed costs — making it very hard to maintain efficient purchasing operations.
Enter Jonah: Your Agentic AI Procurement Assistant
This is precisely where Inventry.ai (and our AI assistant, Jonah) shifts the game. Jonah isn’t just a tool — it’s an agentic AI assistant designed to supercharge or even fully replace traditional procurement workflows. Here's how Jonah brings strong value, especially in times of geopolitical risk:
Maintaining Minimums & Dynamic POs
Jonah continuously tracks your inventory levels and “minimums” thresholds.
When stock is running low, Jonah can automatically generate purchase orders (POs) to your preferred suppliers.
By maintaining a real-time view of supply chain risk, he can adapt PO timing to buffer against unexpected tariffs, lead-time shifts, or other policy-driven disruptions.
Chasing Down Orders
Once a PO is issued, Jonah doesn’t just sit idle: he follows up. He can chase down confirmations, negotiate delivery dates, and send reminders — all autonomously.
Updating Lead Times & Risk Data
When lead times shift (e.g., suppliers delay shipments due to tariff impacts or supply chain risk), Jonah logs and updates those changes, feeding real-time risk intelligence back into your procurement planning.
This is especially powerful when external factors (like the legal challenges to Trump’s tariffs) create rapid, systemic policy risk. Jonah can proactively re-optimize his ordering behavior based on updated forecasts, so your supply chain stays resilient.
Invoice Matching & Verification
Jonah matches invoices to POs, ensuring accuracy. If there’s a mismatch (perhaps due to extra costs or unplanned duties), Jonah flags them for review or even triggers a corrective workflow.
End-to-End Efficiency
By automating so many of the tactical procurement tasks, Jonah frees up your human team to focus on strategic decisions — renegotiating contracts, assessing supply risk, or evaluating alternative sourcing strategies, especially in light of trade policy uncertainty.
The Strategic Edge: Risk Mitigation + Cost Control
In a world where regulatory and tariff risk is real (as illustrated by the Supreme Court case), having an agentic AI procurement partner like Jonah gives organizations a powerful edge:
Visibility into risk: Jonah helps you see changes early — so you’re not caught flat-footed if policy changes or tariffs get imposed or reversed.
Proactive reaction: Instead of waiting for problems to materialize, Jonah acts ahead, adjusting orders or suppliers as needed.
Operational resilience: Automated PO creation, tracking, and invoice reconciliation means fewer gaps when external shocks hit.
Cost containment: By tightly linking lead-time intelligence with purchasing decisions, Jonah helps manage landed cost and avoid surprise fees or delays.
Bottom Line
The Supply Chain Dive story shows how destabilizing broad tariffs can be — especially for small businesses. But whether or not the Supreme Court rules against the policy, the risk is real for any procurement organization that depends on global supply chains.
With Inventry.ai and Jonah, you get a first line of defense: an AI-first, agentic assistant that can replace your entire purchasing department, running procurement with speed, foresight, and flexibility. That’s not just efficiency — it’s strategic resilience.
