Customs Compliance Is Becoming an AI Problem

Customs compliance has traditionally been treated as a transaction-level exercise. Classify the product, calculate the duty, file the entry, and retain the records. That model is becoming harder to sustain as customs authorities demand more visibility into the companies, products, and supply chains behind each import. The shift is especially visible in the United States.

Executive Order 14411, “Strengthening Customs Enforcement,” signed June 3, 2026, directs the Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to strengthen importer of record requirements, increase vetting, and establish additional disclosure and certification requirements. The order also directs the government to require information or documentation that foreign exporters were required to submit to foreign customs authorities before exporting goods to the United States.

For importers, this creates a challenge that is fundamentally about data. The relevant information may already exist, but it often lives in different systems, under different descriptions, and with different owners. AI can help connect those pieces, but only if companies treat AI as part of a controlled compliance process rather than as a replacement for customs expertise.…