AI integration in global customs and trade enforcement

The United States is addressing significant revenue losses and trade fraud through new technological initiatives. A White House report, titled ‘The Great Transshipment Scam,’ estimates that Chinese exporters use global networks to evade tariffs, costing the federal government between $19 billion and $26 billion in annual revenue. This practice involves relabeling or repackaging goods in intermediary nations—including Mexico, Panama, and Colombia—to bypass Section 301 tariffs.

To counter these activities, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is developing an artificial intelligence system called ‘Detective Border’ to analyze transport routes and ownership data to identify fraudulent patterns.

This push for AI integration comes as customs authorities globally struggle with the massive volume of cross-border e-commerce. The rise in low-value shipments, often utilizing de minimis rules, has created opportunities for criminal networks to exploit oversight gaps through document alteration. Traditional, rule-based customs systems are increasingly viewed as unsustainable for processing the billions of shipments recorded in the U.S. and EU, as manual reviews cannot keep pace with the scale of modern trade.