1. The old global trade order is collapsing — and AI means we can build something better
Two paradigm shifts are unfolding at once. The era of “outsourced, opaque, just-in-time supply chains” — what Evan calls Globalization 1.0 — is collapsing under tariffs, sanctions, and constant disruption. At the same time, artificial intelligence is fueling “the most rapid and consequential technological revolution in history.” Together they create both an urgent imperative to re-architect global trade and the technological breakthrough — AI — that makes it possible.
"We have both an urgent imperative to re-architect global trade and, with AI, a technological breakthrough that frees us, and compels us, to design a better system.
2. A new trade system must resolve three contradictions
Any new trade architecture must resolve three core tensions.
- Voters and lawmakers now demand maximum security and maximum prosperity at the same time — autarky slows growth, but unbridled free trade has been exploited against national interests.
- Modern trade laws are network-shaped, but customs processes are still shipment-shaped: Regulations like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), component-based tariffs in the U.S. such as Section 232 levies, and European laws such as the EU Carbon Border Adjustment (CBAM) and Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) reach deep into multi-tier value chains. But customs was built to screen one container at one border.
- Solving network problems requires shared intelligence — but governments are understandably concerned about data and AI sovereignty. “Security versus prosperity. Shipments versus networks. Sharing versus sovereignty. The question for our generation … is how do we have more enforcement, more sovereignty, more collaboration, and more trade all at the same time?”
3. Detentions and delays can be alleviated through a trusted network and pre-validation with Product Passports
Evan spotlighted a respected American retailer whose Henley t-shirts were detained 47 times in a row by U.S. Customs under the UFLPA — creating roughly $150 million in delays, detentions, and legal fees. “This was not a bad actor. This was a responsible company attempting to navigate a shock to the system.” The company made a bold decision: it mapped its multi-tier value chain through Altana, packaged the evidence into an Altana Product Passport, and shared it proactively with CBP before the next shipment even shipped. The detentions stopped. “Pre-validation replaced interrogation. Trust replaced suspicion.” That trusted network then grew — upstream to textile and cotton suppliers, downstream to other retailers and apparel brands.
4. A federated data model addresses sovereignty concerns
A better trading system is only possible with a federated public-private network connected by Product Passports and powered by AI. Federation is what makes a trusted trade network possible: a hub-and-spoke design that keeps data local and sovereign while enabling shared intelligence across the network. “Through federation, we provide for shared intelligence, we can learn from isolated data, and we enable collaboration across a network without asking nations to forfeit the local control of their data, their technology, or their borders.” It’s how customs agencies can move from screening shipments to pre-validating entire networks — turning drawn-out customs entries into “a simple record-keeping event against [a] compliance decision that has already been made.”
5. Product Passports are 'Global Entry for Goods' — increasing trust on all sides of the trading network
Altana’s architecture is designed to connect all facets of the trade network.
"Just like global entry for travelers is enabling seamless clearance at the airport, the Product Passport allows seamless entries for trusted and verified goods.
- For importers, AI maps the entire value chain back to raw materials, surfaces risk, and automates entire workflows. Teams using Altana are mapping full value chains and modeling the cost of every sourcing and procurement decision and prepping entries faster, avoiding detentions, and securing duty savings with trade compliance workflows.
- For governments, customs agencies review supply-chain information before goods are shipped — sometimes before they’re even manufactured — and explore ownership networks programmatically. Thousands of hours of audit work come down to minutes.
- For logistics providers, leaders like Maersk are becoming “stewards of the digital network,” cleansing high-risk shipments and using Product Passports to feed enriched, accurate trade attestations directly into customs.
6. Introducing the Altana passport manager
Altana announced a trusted trading architecture internationally: the Altana passport manager, which allows any government agency to receive Product Passports, see the extended value chains with them, communicate with importers about issues or questions, and make its own sovereign risk and compliance determinations. Altana AI serves as a recommendation, not a replacement.
Customs authorities only need to add a Product Passport ID field at the item level in their entry form. Each nation gets its own sovereign instance, connected to the global network for shared intelligence while maintaining absolute local control of their data and their borders. This innovation “holds the key to interoperability across jurisdictions and seamless global commerce in an age of fragmentation,” Evan said.
7. The era of a trusted trade network begins now — together
Evan closed with an invitation. “I invite all of you, leaders in the public and private sectors, to co-create this new architecture for global trade with us, to build the network. Because network challenges demand network solutions.”
"The era of broken trade ends today. And the era of trusted networks begins now. Let's get to work.
TradeNext continued throughout the day with panels and conversations featuring leaders from the European Commission (DG TAXUD), the World Customs Organization, the U.S. House of Representatives Trade Subcommittee, FedEx, Maersk, General Motors, General Atomics, AUVSI, Databricks, and the Council on Foreign Relations. The group explored customs modernization, defense industrial base resilience, real-time supply chain intelligence, and the future of USMCA. From the TradeNext stage, Altana announced a first-of-kind partnership with Maersk to embed Product Passports across the Gemini Cooperation — the twelve key international ports through which roughly 70% of world trade moves — and released the new Future of Trade Forum report on USMCA, with findings featured in Bloomberg. Financial Times contributor and Apple in China author Patrick McGee also joined Evan Smith for a keynote conversation on what Apple’s story means for policymakers and enterprises weighing supply chain risk and the cost of resilience. 
