TradeNext 2026 | The Altana Summit

A new era of global trade emerges from trusted networks

TradeNext convened policymakers, industry leaders, and trade experts in Washington for a day of conversations on the future of global commerce. From keynotes to salon sessions, here's what unfolded at the biggest day in gobal trade.

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Opening Keynote

Evan Smith: a new architecture for trusted trade

Altana CEO Evan Smith opened TradeNext with a vision for trusted trade — a new architecture for global commerce in which AI-powered Product Passports reconcile national security with economic growth. The traditional global trade model, he argued, is collapsing under the weight of geopolitical tension and new enforcement realities like the UFLPA. What replaces it has to be technology-enabled, network-driven, and built on shared visibility between governments, primes, and suppliers.

Keynote Conversation

Patrick McGee on what Apple's China story means for everyone else

Patrick McGee, Financial Times contributor and author of the New York Times bestseller “Apple in China,” joined Evan Smith for a wide-ranging conversation about what Apple's China story means for the rest of us — for policymakers trying to reduce adversarial exposure, for enterprises trying to understand their own supply chain risks, and for anyone asking what resilience actually costs.

Patrick McGee in conversation at TradeNext 2026

Panel

Fortifying the industrial base — visibility as a real-time problem

Edward Fishman (Council on Foreign Relations, author of “Chokepoints”) moderated a panel on fortifying the U.S. industrial base with Molly Just-Behr (Databricks), Michael Robbins (AUVSI), and Charles McVicker (General Atomics Aeronautical Systems). The conversation focused on what real-time supply chain visibility means for defense acquisition — from heat maps to decisions, from quarterly reporting to operating tempo, and how primes, agencies, and suppliers can share signal in time to act on it.

Industrial base panel at TradeNext 2026

Featured Research

USMCA at a crossroads — read the Future of Trade Forum report

Released the morning of TradeNext and featured in Bloomberg, Altana's USMCA Future of Trade Forum report draws on multi-tier value chain visibility and a survey of leading trade experts to answer: what should the upcoming joint review actually fix?

Presented from the TradeNext stage by Altana leaders alongside an interactive discussion of the findings.

Altana USMCA Future of Trade Forum report

Speaker Spotlight

“I see the future of global trade. It’s Product Passports on Altana’s network for trusted trade.”

On the TradeNext stage, Altana and Maersk announced a first-of-kind partnership to build a global digital trade network — embedding AI-powered Product Passports into Maersk’s Gemini Cooperation, which moves roughly 70% of world trade through 12 key international ports. Pre-validated, product-level compliance lets verified shipments move faster while giving customs authorities the visibility they need.

“A global Product Passport for Goods is the innovation needed to elevate international trade towards an ecosystem of trust — connecting and transforming major trade routes into digital trade corridors.”

Lars Karlsson, A.P. Møller-Maersk

Speaker Spotlight

“Full product value chain traceability is 100% the future of trade enforcement and facilitation.”

Philippe Duponteil, Director for Customs Duties and Digital Transformation at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD), joined fellow international trade leaders — including Ricardo Treviño Chapa, Deputy Secretary General of the World Customs Organization — to share perspectives on the future of international trade policy and regulations.

“The ultimate objective for us is getting goods cleared before they are even shipped.”

Philippe Duponteil, European Commission (DG TAXUD)

Speaker Spotlight

“Supply chain intelligence is a real-time data problem, not a quarterly reporting problem.”

Molly Just-Behr, Global Head of Public Sector at Databricks, on the panel alongside Michael Robbins (AUVSI) and Charles McVicker (General Atomics), moderated by Edward Fishman (CFR).

“The half-life of useful information is measured in hours, not weeks. Stitching tens of thousands of supplier relationships into a single picture is exactly what Altana and Databricks were built for — and exactly what the industrial base needs.”

Molly Just-Behr, Databricks

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