So yeah we saw some of these issues dissipate and now suddenly the war in Ukraine. And on top of that more saber rattling
between Washington and Beijing. And I just see things. And how do you see things given that you've just come back from the
region. Asia is going to say I mean over the course of the past couple of years with the pandemic and some of these supply chain
issues U.P.S. I think has really earned its name. Everybody thinks it's United Parcel Service. We think of it as a united
problem solvers. And we kind of tackle each of the challenges in the supply chains for our customers with solutions. And so we
see ongoing disruptions and continued lockdowns in certain markets as being the kind of obstacles that we need to figure
out how to overcome for our customers. And we're doing it. You're doing it right. Are you seeing signs that maybe if
tensions are building up a gap between over Taiwan between the U.S. and China does it just add to more of the supply chain
issues. The inflation issues as well. That's happening now. I think what it's going to do is as there's disruptions in
certain lanes customers are going to look for other lanes of opportunity to keep the trade flowing. And because of U.P.S. is
multi-modal network we know ways to take things out of the air into the ground to keep trade moving. We're also working with
governments when those disruptions occur in particular markets to figure out ways how to facilitate trade flows by other means.
And you know some of the agreements for example that have been negotiated in the region are going to be really helpful to us to
find those alternative trade lanes for keeping supply chains moving in spite of disruptions in certain markets for with
certain connection points. Laura. David here. I know you wear many hats and obviously now with U.P.S. as we just mentioned
there. What would your advice to corporates be right now who are looking at what's happened and perhaps what's about to happen
and think we'll need to carry more inventory. Our costs are going to go up logistically. What's the general guidance that
perhaps from what you're seeing is perhaps merited at this point. I think what we've learned from the past two years and
what we're guiding now going forward is near assuring and more regional regionalization of some of the supply chains is going
to be critically important. Obviously keeping additional inventory on hand may be needed for
certain industry sectors but we're advising companies that you know it may be necessary to rethink the supply chains in ways
that allow for diversification of sources of inputs that allow for different methods for getting products to customers. And
U.P.S. is offering solutions that provide flexibility and agility in all those different options. All right. Give us a
sense overall of how of course these geopolitical issues have played out in the rejigging of supply chains but Cuba has
changed things as well. And you could also take a look from an ESG perspective is it with women the vegetable. Will the brunt
of this. This is something that you devoted yourself to. It gives us sense of what you've been witnessing now. Absolutely.
And I'm glad you gave that a call out because women have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic which is why we have
refocused our efforts on helping women owned businesses particularly small and medium sized businesses help them get
back into the trading game. We've seen that ascend. These are 98 percent of global trade flows. They represent 50 percent of the
workforce of most countries. And that's why we're working with governments to make it easier
for those smaller businesses and particularly women owned businesses to get back in the trading game. We're doing that by
advocating on simpler policies for engaging in trade providing tools to SMB and particularly women owned businesses to figure
out how to get greater access to markets using digital tools and advocating for more market access particularly for US employees.
And here again some of the regional trade agreements that have been negotiated have been powerful for facilitating those kind
of trade flows particularly for SMB. Because when trade is simpler more trade can happen. And then bees and particularly
women old ones can benefit from that simple simpler trade flows. That's great Laura. I want to ask just overall outlook. The peak
season is coming up obviously with the holiday season. I wonder what your expectations for that. Are you seeing signs that
demand can pick up in a big way. Or you know when it comes to current restrictions in China that's still complicating things.
The Kobe restrictions and the lockdowns are definitely still complicating things. And we're not seeing at least in the early
stages the demand like it's all like it's previously been. I think the IMF projections on the downturn in growth particularly
Asia Pacific region are playing out right now and what we're seeing in terms of the demand coming
in from various retailers. And so we're trying to make sure that where we can accelerate trade we're part of those solutions
where we can you know help companies be able to supply inventory to the markets where the demand is expected to be stronger than
in others. We're trying to facilitate that as well. But there is definitely signs that there is some dampening of demand and it's
complicated by all these other issues that we're seeing in the market.