Unfortunately, these uncertainties tend to hit small businesses the hardest. Small businesses might have thinner margins and fewer buffers in their balance sheets. They may serve customers who are finding it increasingly difficult to afford goods. Is there some practical way smaller businesses can increase their resiliency to tariff expenses, including through diversification?  

“Small business owners must plan how to respond to these new realities and the economic uncertainty ahead,” noted Rohit Arora for Forbes.

But what can that response look like for smaller businesses with less macroeconomic wiggle room?  

The real cost of tariff volatility for businesses 

Imagine a small business operating with a 10% profit margin on a product that relies heavily on international trade. A tariff increase of 20-40% on the raw materials needed to produce that product can immediately erode the margins. Small firms, dependent on long-term contracts to reduce margins, don’t always have the leverage they need to renegotiate contracts.  

If trade tensions spike, small business tariffs can have devastating impacts. 

But costs alone aren’t the only risk with tariffs. The broader tariff impacts can complicate all sorts of plans. It may be increasingly difficult to document imports and exports. Businesses may need to make new logistical decisions in response to changing costs. And if a small business has to find a new source for its products, it could upend an entire business model. 

Even if businesses can weather these storms, they can lose what created their market share in the first place.

Price competitiveness can go down. And companies may hesitate to expand to new markets because they’re uncertain about which tariffs will spike next. As the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) notes, “pursuing export opportunities in the EU often requires companies to navigate stringent regulations.” If you can handle these regulations, options like exporting to Europe can broaden your ability to diversify. You can think of it as “exporting risk.” 

How can small businesses handle these challenges? There are multiple items to consider that will help you build a sharper tariff strategy. 

Tariff strategy #1: Map and stress-test your supply chain 

The best thing any small business can do is understand its current supply chain. Build a map. Where are the current suppliers? What are their countries of origin? What are their shipping routes? Are there any tariff-sensitive inputs that go into making your products? These are critical questions to answer because many companies don’t realize just how many key components may originate in tariff-targeted countries. 

Next, a small business should run some stress tests.

“What happens if tariffs rise 10%? 50%?” “What if a supplier country becomes politically unstable?”

This will help you identify single-source dependencies and components without any alternative suppliers, which highlights the key risks you need to hedge against.

Tariff strategy #2: Reduce single-country dependence by looking for multi-region supplier diversification 

Now that you’ve identified the risks, diversification is the best way out. If you can source across several low-risk regions to reduce tariff exposure, you’ve already made a lot of headway. 

For example, Chile offers a highly open and stable trade regime, with low, predictable tariffs (around 6% MFN) and over 30 FTAs covering more than 65 economies, making it a strong partner to support a more diversified and resilient supply chain. 

This may require some macroeconomic and geopolitical analysis.

Look at current trade relationships and evaluate tariff history across regions with relatively stable policy environments.

For example, the EU and Chile, ASEAN and China, or the EU and Vietnam. Reviewing how these trade corridors have evolved over time can help you spot patterns in tariff exposure, policy consistency, and regional risk before making sourcing decisions. 

Tariff strategy #3: Diversify beyond suppliers by looking at multiple markets 

Diverse suppliers can help you remain resilient as a business. But what about zooming out? You may need to diversify markets if you’re going to remain tariff-proof. Multiple markets will offset your risk thanks to basic diversification: if tariffs rise with one market, your revenue can still remain stable overall. 

Expanding into additional regions, like Europe or Canada, can help spread your risk around. BDC highlights that exporting to Europe offers stable demand, for example. The downside is a heavy regulatory environment. But if you treat options like these as a part of a broader tariff strategy, you’ll realize that it’s possible to establish footholds in new markets that expand your ability to weather risk. 

Tariff strategy #4: Look for leverageable trade agreements and preferential tariff programs 

So far, the strategies mentioned have been defensive. But there are more assertive strategies for building a diversified portfolio of suppliers. 

To begin, look for any relevant free trade agreements, or unilateral preference programs, that are in place in your industry.

Are there any that reduce costs immediately? Are there unique exceptions for some products that will keep your business with a sustainable profit margin? 

You can also shift your sourcing or assembly operations to countries with more favorable agreements. Maybe the answers to the questions above aren’t favorable now. However, if you can develop a small business strategy that spans multiple countries, you may potentially benefit from lower tariffs on products assembled in specific regions.  

Tariff strategy #5: Create a real-time tariff monitoring system 

You may look at these strategies and wonder how sustainable they are if tariff conditions shift unexpectedly. It’s a valid concern. The truth is no one has a crystal ball for future tariff policy. However, you can build an advanced warning system by designating a person or a team to track tariff announcements and political developments. They may even be able to look at trade negotiations to see where specific industries may be headed. 

Look at government trade portals, international trade news, or even consider hiring consultants.

The key is to build a list of trusted sources for forecasting trade developments. You may not expect 100% accuracy, but you should look for a reliable set of sources that can decrease your risks because you feel increasingly “in the loop” for tariff changes. 

Tariff strategy #6: Price and plan for the most uncertain tariff environment 

Ever hear the phrase “hope for the best, prepare for the worst?” This is a variant of that. You may consider introducing tiered pricing strategies, or terms that allow mid-contract tariff adjustments. Customers don’t always like these, so make sure that your tariff pricing policies are clear and well-articulated at every point. 

Assess different tiers of risk and develop a strategy for each one. What happens if tariffs increase by 10%? How will you respond? And how will that response differ if your tariffs increase by 50%?  

Tariff strategy #7: Increase your operational flexibility 

The more flexible your operations are, the more quickly you can pivot if there’s a sudden tariff shift. One great starting point: modular production processes. If you can design products so components can be swapped with equivalents from different suppliers, you’ll avoid getting “locked” into any specific solution.  

Flexibility is just as important from a logistics perspective.

Can you use multiple distribution hubs (ports, warehouses, fulfillment centers) to weather a geopolitical storm?

This kind of strategy isn’t just important for tariff flexibility, but total flexibility in the face of geopolitical risks. 

Reframing tariff risks as a strategic advantage 

Tariff risks will always be there. So will the uncertainty of geopolitical risks. Global trade is shifting, and regulations are increasing. But if you can find a way to map your supply chains, diversify across both suppliers and markets, and build more flexible operational systems, you’ll shift these risks into a potential advantage. Your ability to pivot quickly could keep your prices stable in the face of future geopolitical storms, which isn’t true for every small business. 

Small businesses can’t control policy. But they can control how prepared they are for volatile policies. Build a diversification strategy that gives you some peace of mind that no matter what the next headline in international trade may read, you’re ready for it. 

The post How to build tariff resiliency into your diversification strategy appeared first on Trade Ready.

But eight years later, Starbucks closed nearly three-quarters of its Australian locations.

 Headlines screamed: “Shunned Starbucks in Aussie exit.”

So what happened?

Clearly, Starbucks wasn’t working with a bad product. Its success in the American markets testified to that. And there weren’t any obvious instances of bad luck or misfortune. Instead, Starbucks’ expansion highlighted the cultural gap that can make international expansion challenging. And given that Starbucks Australia eventually started turning a profit decades later, there are some interesting lessons to learn from what went wrong—and how Starbucks turned it all around.

The risk of skipping the necessary cultural research

Most market entry failures start with poor preparation. Starbucks’ foray into Australia proved no exception.

The brand went full-throttle: Starbucks opened 84 Australian stores in just eight years, many in major cities with established coffee markets. However, Starbucks failed to take into account the highly developed coffee culture already present in Australia. After World War II, an influx of immigrants from Italy brought espresso machines and introduced coffee en masse. Australians had already “met” coffee cafe culture.

As the Australasian Marketing Journal reports:

“Australia’s taste for coffee is a by-product of the waves of immigrants arriving on the country’s shores following World War II. European migrants, predominantly Greeks and Italians, were the first to establish the coffee culture, which was later embraced more widely in the 1980s.”

In the U.S., that hadn’t been quite as true. Starbucks had already defined cafe culture. Meanwhile, Australians already had deep-set preferences for strong, artisanal coffee being served in locally-owned shops. In Australia, Starbucks wouldn’t be driving the culture. It would feel more like an outsider selling a familiar product. And its corporate approach felt less authentic (and often, more expensive) than the local cafes.

According to Justologist,

“Australians are spoiled for choice when it comes to coffee” while “the large coffee chains are not dominating the market like Starbucks is in America.”

Australian coffee culture was largely fragmented, not as ripe for national domination as American coffee culture had been.

What Starbucks could’ve done differently

Succeeding in any export market requires companies to clearly define their customer and adapt their approach as appropriate. That begins with thorough market research: a deeper understanding of the cultural context into which you’re exporting your products.

Creating detailed customer profiles

[This content is an excerpt reproduced from the FITTskills International Sales & Marketing course]

Customer profiles are used for product and service adaptations and other marketing decisions. Profiles are also often created for specific segments for the market. Customer profiles are almost certain to be diverse within every foreign market, taking into account income levels, culture, living standards, fashion, religion, politics and general attitudes toward imported products. Include the following 3 sections:

Demographic Portrait

This part of the profile demonstrates a detailed understanding of the organization’s customers and typically includes demographic characteristics such as age, gender, career or job, income, level of educational attainment, geographic location and language(s) spoken.

Estimated Demand

Based on collected research, marketers estimate demand for products and services, and the rate at which the demand is expected to grow.

Purchase Motivation

It is important to understand what motivates customers to buy. Are they looking for savings or a way to simplify their lives? Perhaps they are seeking attention or safety. Why will customers choose the company’s product or service over the competition? Is what they have to offer too inexpensive or too costly? Do they offer something unique? What cultural factors influence the values, preferences and behaviours in this target market?

For more on how to conduct customer research including collecting and analysing data and identifying insights about market segments explore International Sales & Marketing

In Australia, a full profile of coffee customers would have revealed that they weren’t necessarily looking for big-time chains. They valued their independent cafes. They already had their favorite barista-crafted coffee shops. They were fine with a localized, relaxed experience, and didn’t see a need to change

Starbucks had been encouraged by its rapid expansion in the U.S. and may have assumed that success in another western-style country would be assured. Instead, they tried to transplant the American model wholesale. And it was a model that simply wasn’t going to work in a country with a different coffee history.

A flawed international marketing strategy

‘‘I just think the whole system, the way they serve, just didn’t appeal to the culture we have here,” said Andrew Mackay, VP of the Australian Coffee Traders Association.

A key point of issue for Starbucks’ strategy was differentiation. International marketing can get tricky if your brand can’t figure out what makes it different. While the Australasian Marketing Journal notes that Starbucks had an initial spike of interest thanks to the novelty of the store and Australians’ curiosity, it failed to differentiate why it was superior to the already-embedded local coffee culture across the Australian continent.

Starbucks was perceived as having a premium price that required some point of differentiation to justify paying that much for coffee. The extant coffee culture in Australia made that selling point difficult. Other marketing problems—such as the uniformity of the store design—didn’t appeal to Australians the same way they had appealed to Americans.

The rapid expansion strategy also introduced an element of fatigue. While the appeal of a standardized coffee store had legs in America, the uniformity and success of the brand eventually started to wear on many customers. The same was true in Australia, where Starbucks’ rapid entry to the market and aggressive expansion strategy failed to make inroads.

Ultimately, Starbucks was a first-mover in America, while the brand had failed to acknowledge that in Australia, it would simply be another place offering coffee.

Additionally, Australian cafe owners weren’t intimidated by Starbucks. Starbucks’ fast-expansion philosophy might have worked in the United States, but Australian cafes were able to double down on the specialty brews and cozy atmospheres that had already made them popular with the Australian public. In that environment, it was difficult for Starbucks to differentiate itself from the competition.

How Starbucks Australia eventually recovered

A younger demographic eventually came to the rescue. According to Coffee Intelligence, “a new cohort of Gen Z and young millennials are driving coffee consumption in Australia, and they exhibit new drinking preferences that align with what Starbucks offers.”

Starbucks finally found itself aligning with what Australian consumers wanted, which was now an on-the-go lifestyle. Convenience and mobile online ordering systems were becoming preferable to the cozy cafe experience—which played to Starbucks’ strengths.

Additionally, Starbucks eventually shifted from a pure growth strategy to focusing on tourist-friendly locations with more international audiences. Shopping centers and popular commuting destinations proved valuable in this strategy.

In other words, Starbucks eventually found success not in trying to teach Australians to be like Americans, but in finding where its current Australian market already existed, then doubling down on that strategy.

Actionable lessons for exporters

Starbucks made some expensive missteps, but eventually learned some key lessons to enter a new international market:

• Define your customer profile, remembering to keep it local. Don’t assume what worked for your current customer base will work for the new one, too. Use customer profiling to understand demographics, demand, and culturally-driven purchase motivations in the new market.
• Adapt your product or service to fit the culture. Starbucks started seeing more success when it a mobile-driven generation stared drinking coffee. Rather than stick to its old U.S. playbook, the brand eventually shifted to finding its niche, which provided further opportunity to grow.
• Localize your marketing strategy. One-size-fits-all branding can often be a mistake, as you use previous successes to predict future ones. But sometimes, those successes were due to elements that may not exist at the next stage of your expansion.

A powerful “export plan” takes plenty of research, along with generous dollops of patience and humility. Starbucks was able to turn things around by addressing their mistakes and doubling down on customer research and adaptations. Lesson learned? Don’t skimp on your customer profiles and never assume your domestic approach will work in global markets.

FITTskills content adapted from: FITTskills International Sales & Marketing. Forum for International Trade Training (FITT), © 2023.

The post Lessons from a failed export plan: why Starbucks couldn’t crack Australia appeared first on Trade Ready.

International trade is dynamic. Traders will come across different rules, different regulations, and even different trade patterns. Yet despite these challenges, traders still require tailor-made solutions for every business situation, according to Mayowa Egunjobi, Vice President at Deutsche Bank.

Mayowa knows this, thanks to her eclectic background. Her career began after a brief stint with an educational service agency, which brought her to the world of banking. But what started as an opportunity to fill a vacancy at the International Operations department has since evolved into a lifelong passion for global trade—with some important lessons learned along the way.

Today she focuses on advising and engaging with financial institutions within Wes Africa as Vice President, Institutional Cash and Trade Finance at Deutsche Bank based in Nigeria.

“I also support the executive management in coordinating the Nigerian franchise with Deutsche Bank as a group with things like strategic planning and revenue drives for the portfolio that we manage. For my portfolio I’m also responsible for the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) reviews that need to be done, especially with the peculiar compliance requirements involved with this region. Depending on the risk criteria of that country, clients are classified as such, and this is what determines the frequency of the periodic review to be performed as part of our compliance processes. And I also manage the high level engagements with the financial institution/regulatory body to ensure that compliance,” Mayowa explains.

Overcoming the challenges of global trade

International trade is not always a linear career path.

“International trade is a field that covers very diverse areas,” reflects Mayowa. “Import and export trade operations, investment and international project consultancy, global management strategies, market research…”

The key to overcoming those challenges, according to Mayowa, is building relationships. She regularly engages with a wide array of professionals and enterprises to discuss business opportunities and global trends.

In one case, she even facilitated a complex trade deal across different continents—including a local oil company in Liberia, a U.S. oil franchise, and a small business in Nigeria and manufacturer in China.

Mayowa calls this kind of balance and versatility a delicate operation. Her secret weapon: careful research.

“The IOC was divesting their business from Liberia and some other West African countries and needed to sell off the entities to a competent local oil company,” says Mayowa.

“Another small business was struggling to find a reliable supplier for a unique product they wanted to sell and who would accept trade terms convenient for both parties. Through careful research and negotiations, we were able to facilitate the trade business between a manufacturer in China who produced high-quality goods at a competitive price with the Nigerian small business owner.”

In this case, because the IOC was divesting its operation from Liberia and other West African countries, the deal required two parties—so Mayowa used her attention to detail and expertise on trade instruments to facilitate acceptable contract terms to fit into the buying capacity of the local Liberian company in order to purchase the franchise, while also providing confidence to the seller-IOC that they would receive their funds when due.

Matching the two wasn’t necessarily easy. It required a complicated look at the books, as well as an agreement structure that both the IOC and the local Liberian companies would find favorable.

The solution came by finding the right structure for trade instruments and a long-tenured guarantee between two entities.

“This sale involved payments working with their partner local banks,” notes Mayowa. Without that detail of international trade, the deal may not have come together at all.

It’s also important to understand how these complex trade agreements can affect companies and individuals across the globe. Mayowa notes that negotiating and finalizing these high-value trade deals has not only brought significant revenue to her company, but helped optimize supply chains and reduce costs for different companies affected by the trade deal. The result is a contribution to the global economy that’s difficult to put in dollar terms.

The power of relationships in international trade

For Mayowa, putting together the right details like that depends on building relationships to support her career in international trade. Given how dynamic international trade can be—with international rules and regulations constantly changing—these relationships help keep her in the loop and address complex issues by cutting to the heart of negotiations.

Negotiations like these also highlight Mayowa’s love for finding small business solutions for what are sometimes international trade concerns. She believes small businesses—like the local banks in her negotiation between U.S., China, Nigerian and Liberian trade partners—can “thrive and grow by tapping into global markets.”

After all, the significance of the Liberia-U.S.- a deal in question can be seen as a bridge-building endeavor. It brought together the continents with different economic priorities and sets of economic rules. Even so, finding the right instruments and identifying the key local business partners was essential to executing the trade the right way.

That’s where relationships enter the picture.

Whenever mentoring young professionals in international trade, Mayowa recommends relationship-building from the very beginning. Since every trade pattern has its own sets of rules and local needs, building those relationships helps trade experts quickly decipher the problems that may be getting in the way of negotiations.

She says that the power to adapt and provide the best value for clients often depends on the strength of one’s personal connections. And pursuing connections like that can be a career-long endeavor.

Want to learn more about the Certified International Trade Professional (CITP®|FIBP®) designation? See why it’s the world’s most recognized designation for competency and credibility in global business.

Becoming a Certified International Trade Professional (CITP)

“I found out about the CITP four years ago. And at that point in my career, I had already transitioned into the international banking space, and I wanted to do something more. After earning my Certified Trade Finance Professional (CTFP) in 2020, I wanted to take on additional challenges and continue to move up the ladder within the international banking space.

“One of my colleagues mentioned the CITP to me as the highest form of certification for international trade professionals recognized in the Americas.”

“And I said ok, let me give it a try and started reading up on the CITP designation. The more I learned about it the more fascinated I got and decided to go for it.”

One of the biggest milestones in Mayowa’s career was applying to earn her status as a CITP.

“Having the CITP designation demonstrates your expertise and professionalism in the field of international trade,” notes Mayowa.

It not only enhances one’s credibility with peers but boosts reputations among clients and employers as well.

It also demonstrates a commitment to the kinds of skills that have helped her develop her career in international trade.

Looking to the future: What’s next for Mayowa Egunjobi

Mayowa is confident that her CITP designation will have a major, critical role in her career progression. Since relationship-building is the name of the game, having this certification helps establish credibility within new relationships, which can help move the wheels that turn global trade.

She also sees that the international trade market is nothing if not unpredictable. “Dynamic” is an understatement to Mayowa. And because international trade is always fluid, it takes someone with both passion for learning and a willingness to adapt—traits that attracted her to international trade.

In fact, she identified being part of a professional community like this as a great way to help her stay ahead of emerging trends. New trade regulations and innovative market technologies will always be on the move. But Mayowa believes that a steady approach to building the right relationships—and finding the right details in trade negotiations—will always win the day.

For professionals like Mayowa, building a strong network of relationships while staying open to the changing winds of trade dynamics always creates opportunities to build bridges where there were none before.

The post CITP Spotlight: Mayowa Egunjobi – Vice President, Institutional Cash/Trade Finance FI, Deutsche Bank appeared first on Trade Ready.

International customs have to deal with an increasingly complex network of international movement—from shipping to travel customs—without incurring any new security risks. This is a lot for any system to handle. But without effective technology to help, customs compliance can be a nightmare.

Fortunately, there’s a potential solution: implementing AI in customs processes.

Algorithmic processes for scanning and determining HS codes, handling eCommerce customs declaration, and international trade facilitation are potential game changers.

If AI is helping the customs industry streamline a process like determining HS codes, for example, it can reduce processing time and human error. The result: more accuracy, faster cross-border movement, and smoother world trade.

But how are customs officials using AI, and is it having an impact? Let’s start with one of the most vexing challenges for customs officials: HS codes.

Streamlining HS classification with AI

Harmonized System codes are vital for classifying goods for customs. They identify product categories, help countries accurately apply their tariffs, and track trade data. However, they also add potential wrenches to the system, which can make customs processing more complicated.

The sheer volume and complexity of these products can be difficult to deal with. Yet according to Aleksei Bondarenko, Ph.D., an international trade consultant, implementing AI can drastically simplify HS classification and processing.

With AI assistance, customs officials could potentially reduce the time they spend on determining HS codes by up to 80%.

If possible, this would help eliminate customs logjams and make customs much easier to handle for large-scale trade.

It’s also a benefit for e-commerce. An e-commerce company might ship thousands of products worldwide. In many cases, businesses assign HS codes themselves and are responsible for doing so accurately. Repeating this process manually can be a hassle for companies that could otherwise spend time thinking about fulfillment and getting their orders shipped on time.

Tools like Traide and eClear offer AI-enabled support for identifying products for international shipping, taxation, and more. With the right offering, AI can help lower the barrier to entry for up-and-coming e-commerce businesses. 

AI in customs declarations and documents

If every country had similar rules, customs declarations wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s a big world. And every country has its own set of rules. 

A lot of elements can impact how shipping works between multiple countries. A country might set especially stringent customs laws, requiring multiple parties to approve certain types of products. Another country might have higher tariffs on specific industries or products from particular countries, increasing the financial burden on anyone doing the importing/exporting. And if there’s a mistake with any of the above, it can throw a wrench into just about any customs processing system and create all sorts of headaches

But there’s hope.

“AI can streamline the preparation of customs documents, particularly customs declarations,” notes Aleksei Bondarenko.

“AI systems autonomously extract necessary information from provided documents such as invoices, bills of lading, and certificates, as well as from ERP systems, and automatically draft the declarations.”

In other words, AI cuts the busywork out of customs declarations and documents—cumbersome, error-prone work that might be full of difficulties if handled the traditional way. 

AI is also comprehensive. It doesn’t get tired and its vision doesn’t get blurry when it’s close to the end of the day. For example, AI systems might receive different styles of documents related to customs processes—invoices, bills of lading, certificates of origin. Too many documents from too many sources might overwhelm someone who’s looking forward to lunch. But with algorithms and trained models, AI can quickly disseminate disparate information and consolidate it for easier processing.

Information extraction works the same way. Thanks to the sophistication of modern AI, it’s capable of scanning documents and extracting relevant data on its own. Product descriptions, quantities, HS codes—AI can handle them all. And it’s capable of detecting what type of information it might be looking at in a specific context. 

AI models can then structure this data into an organized, preformatted output, making it easier for customs officials to process. This streamlines their ability to work, saves time, and ultimately, helps ensure more accuracy. 

One potential output: customs declarations. Professionals can look over customs declarations for accuracy, of course—and they should. But the drafting of the declarations can sometimes be tedious work. And it’s work that AI can easily fill. Even with some time spent reviewing the facts of the customs declarations, the overall time spent creating these declarations would be a fraction of the time it took to create and edit them.

Services like icustoms and Descartes Systems Group are helping companies fill in the difficulties of customs processes with machine-based support. 

Using AI to recognize patterns and analyze risk

If facilitating trade were as easy as stamping the receipts, there wouldn’t be any risks involved. But customs authorities also have to balance their facilitation of quick, seamless trade with the risks. Smuggling, fraud, and customs compliance issues make it difficult to achieve faster customs processing.

But AI does have some promising solutions. It can analyze a vast amount of historical data to look for patterns. Once it has those patterns, it can even predict potential risks with accuracy.

AI won’t wipe out the need for human supervisors—but it can flag high-risk shipments based on factors like product types, compliance issues throughout the product’s commercial history, and more.

The result is that customs officials achieve a more thorough grasp of everything that’s moving underneath them.

Automating regulatory verification

Finally, trade regulations are there for a reason. Ensuring commerce meets the needs of these regulations can get complex, however. Customs officials have to verify their shipments adhere to the laws and standards of the country that enforces them. The more countries get involved, the more complex compliance inspection becomes—which slows down commerce.

AI can help with compliance inspections by automating regulatory verifications. For example, an AI tool might cross-reference shipment data with any applicable regulations. If it spots a discrepancy, it can flag it for supervisors to review.

Everything from accurate HS codes to proper documentation can fall under the watchful eye of AI.

Integrating AI into customs processes can be transformative. Global trade is increasingly complex. New regulations pass all the time. Situations change, nations modify trade agreements, and new products enter the marketplace. Thanks to the speed of comprehensive reviews of AI, that doesn’t have to be a problem.

In the future, customs processing will likely be a hybrid of AI-enabled tools and human supervisors double-checking the work. AI won’t replace humans, but it will make them faster—and that could make customs processing a much more efficient process across multiple borders.

The post How AI is being used to streamline customs processes—now and in the future appeared first on Trade Ready.