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In today’s headlines, the European Union and United States reached an agreement on Friday to suspend tariffs, ending a 17-year dispute over aid for Airbus and Boeing. In other news, the US Senate passed a $1.9 trillion Covid economic relief plan. Also, Germany signed a new law that will fine companies for not monitoring human rights abuses in their supply chains. Afternoon Coffee brings you the latest in procurement and supply chain news.

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Virtual card payment growth is booming and many source-to-pay companies are partnering with banks to develop them or investing in capabilities or built a company on the value proposition of converting cheques to cards (see AvidXchange and AvidPay).

But why would any supplier take a card on payment terms? One industry card veteran said this is a classic example of financing the receivable and then allowing a card payment, a lose/lose proposition.