Manual Trade Compliance and the Problem of Human Error

Before the advent of AI trade compliance tools, companies were spending more time on manual trade compliance including checking companies actions against sanctions lists and watchlists individually, reviewing constantly changing tariffs, and learning HTS codes to properly classify their goods. This introduces problems that arise from human error.

For example, in 2026 alone, the U.S. tariffs on China have changed multiple times already. Supply chains are required to keep up with these changes in tariffs in order to properly evaluate shipments of imported goods. In another example, the United States has multiple export screening lists from the Departments of Commerce, State, and Treasury. Without an automated sanctions screening tool, companies must conduct these reviews against each list manually, slowing down the process. In addition, they could risk missing a company on a watchlist due to common errors, such as recent or frequent entity name changes.

 AI-Powered Sanctions Screening

Artificial intelligence streamlines the sanctions screening process by going beyond simply checking if a company name is on a watchlist. These tools use fuzzy matching to catch aliases, misspellings, and entity name variations that manual review could easily miss. AI tools are able to review against real-time lists, keeping up-to-date with continuously changing sanctions and watchlist data.

Automated HTS Classification

The U.S. has over 17,000 unique HTS codes that are used to classify imported goods. Without a highly technical and strong understanding of how to navigate import classification, companies could risk misclassification. This could lead to delays with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or even penalties for incorrect HTS codes. Navigating HTS codes manually could cause delays in itself, as automated tools could classify goods much faster and with higher accuracy than human manual efforts could.

Using artificial intelligence, HTS classification tools can review human-made, natural language descriptions of goods, as well as technical specifications, to determine correct HTS codes. Artificial intelligence can also be used to review in bulk to identify errors in classification.

The Most Up-to-Date Trade Compliance Regulations

U.S. trade compliance laws are always changing, whether through new tariffs, updates to entity watchlists, or new restrictions on imported goods. Supply chains need to maintain the most up-to-date information on trade laws to avoid the risk of violations. Artificial intelligence can be used to help monitor proposed regulations and federal notices that could impact the supply chain. Proactive monitoring is essential, and machine learning makes it much faster than manual tracking.

How to Use AI for Trade Compliance

2026 is the year to upgrade your supply chain using AI. Integrating AI-powered trade compliance tools into your supply chain can streamline your import/export operations while having an extra safeguard against errors that could violate U.S. trade laws. Especially in highly competitive markets, using AI for trade compliance is essential to avoiding any delays in the supply chain to ensure you always meet the demands of your customers.