An artificial intelligence robot looking at the digital data display of the future.
Yuichi Rochino | Instant | Getty Images
Companies are turning to artificial intelligence tools that help them navigate the real-world turbulence in global trade.
Several high-tech companies have told CNBC they are deploying new technologies to visualize the global supply chain of their businesses. This is from the materials used to form the products to where those products are shipped – and understand how they will be affected by US President Donald Trump’s reverse tariffs.
Last week, Salesforce said it could develop a new import specialist AI agent that can “quickly handle and address changes to all 20,000 US Customs product categories” if necessary, and navigate changes to the customs system.
The engineers at the US software giant used a harmonious tariff schedule, a 4,400-page tariff document on goods imported into the US, to inform the responses generated by the agents.
“The pure pace and complexity of global tariff changes make it nearly impossible for most businesses to maintain manually,” Eric Loeb, executive vice president of government affairs at Salesforce, told CNBC. “In the past, companies may have relied on small teams of internal experts to keep pace.”
Companies say that AI systems allow decisions about adjustments to the global supply chain much faster.
Andrew Bell, chief product officer at supply chain management software company Kinaxis, said manufacturers and distributors seeking to inform tariff responses are using his company’s machine learning technology to assess products, the materials leading to them, and external signals such as news articles and macroeconomic data.
“With that information, you can start some of these simulations. Here is a certain part of the build material that has substantial tariffs. What would the overall impact be if you switch to using this other part instead?” Bell told CNBC.
“The moment of eye glow”
Trump’s tariff list – covering dozens of countries – forced businesses to rethink their supply chains and pricing. Walmart and Nike We’ve already raised prices for some products. According to census data, the US imported approximately $3.3 trillion in goods in 2024.
Uncertainty from US tariffs “actually presents a sparkle of AI,” said Zach Cass, a futurist who told CNBC’s Sylvia Amaro at the Italian Ambrossetti Forum last month, and former Openai’s market deployment strategy.
“If you wonder how difficult things can become without AI being automated and what will happen in a world where you can’t hire a lot of people in one night, AI will present this alternative proposal,” he added.
Nagendra Bandaru, Managing Partner and Head of Global Technology Services for Indian IT Giant WiproThe client said it was using the company’s Agent AI solution “to pivot supplier strategies, adjust trade lanes, and dynamically manage obligation exposures as the policy environment evolves.”
Wipro said it uses a variety of AI systems provided by third parties, from large-scale language models to traditional machine learning and computer vision techniques, to inspect physical assets through transits across borders.
“It’s not a silver bullet.”
Wipro preferred to keep the company’s name a secret, but Wipro said that companies using AI products to navigate Trump’s tariffs range from Fortune 500 Electronics manufacturers to auto parts suppliers exporting to Europe and North America with Asian factories.
“AI is a powerful enabler, but it’s not a silver bullet,” Vandal told CNBC. “It does not replace a trade policy strategy, but strengthens it by changing global trade from a reactive challenge to a proactive, data-driven benefit.”
AI was already a key investment priority for global companies before Trump’s fundamental tariff announcement in April. Nearly three-quarters of business leaders ranked AI and generation AI in the top three technologies for investment in 2025, according to a Capgemini report released in January.
“There are several ways AI can help businesses deal with tariffs and the resulting uncertainty. However, the success of AI solutions is based on the quality of data they can access,” Ajay Agarwal, partner at Bain Capital Ventures, told CNBC.
The venture capitalist said that one of his portfolio companies, Fourkites, will use AI and supply chain network data to help them understand the logistics impact of tariffs on supplier coordination.
“They are working with many Fortune 500 companies to leverage agents for cargo and oceans to provide this level of visibility and intelligence,” Agarwal said.
“Supplier switching could reduce tariff costs, but could increase lead times and transportation costs,” he added. “In addition, tariff volatility has had a serious impact on the fees and capabilities available both in the marine and domestic freight networks.”
Watch: Former Openai executives say “The moment of AI sparkle in tariffs”
