Simply Trade

Host: Cindy Allen
Published: September 11, 2026
Length: ~27 min.
Presented by: Global Training Center

Summary
International trade is entering another major transformation—and according to Cindy Allen, trade professionals need to learn how to “be the willow and bend with the wind.”

In this episode of Simply Trade: Cindy’s Version, Cindy returns from the Customs Trade Cargo Security Summit in Dallas with a firsthand look at where CBP and the administration are taking U.S. trade policy, enforcement, and modernization.

The message from government leadership was clear: economic security is national security, importing is increasingly being treated as a privilege, and greater supply-chain visibility will be central to the next era of compliance.

Cindy breaks down five major themes from the summit, including the push to illuminate supply chains back to raw materials, changes to importer verification, the expanding responsibilities of trade participants, and the growing importance of CTPAT. She also explores how AI and ACE modernization could help CBP and compliant businesses work faster and smarter.

The direction of travel is becoming clearer. For importers, brokers, manufacturers, and other trade professionals, now is the time to understand how their responsibilities—and their compliance programs—may need to evolve.

This Week in Trade
• CBP and the administration are increasingly connecting economic security with national security.

• Full supply-chain visibility and traceability are moving toward becoming fundamental compliance expectations.

• Importer verification, country-of-origin determinations, and participation in programs such as CTPAT may evolve significantly.

• AI, ACE modernization, and greater use of technology could reshape both CBP operations and private-sector trade compliance.

Main Topic / Discussion
Cindy breaks down five major messages she took away from the Customs Trade Cargo Security Summit and what they could mean for the future of international trade compliance.

1. The Administration’s Trade Goal
The administration is pursuing an America First policy framework that could lead to changes in policy guidance, regulations, and eventually trade laws.

One of the clearest messages Cindy heard was that importing is being treated as a privilege rather than a right. At the same time, CBP does not want to stop legitimate trade. The objective is to better identify risk while allowing compliant trade to move more efficiently.

Economic security and national security are becoming increasingly intertwined, with domestic manufacturing capacity playing an important role in that strategy.

2. Illuminate Your Supply Chain
Supply-chain visibility is becoming a critical compliance issue.

Trade participants should increasingly expect to understand their supply chains beyond immediate suppliers—including products, manufacturing locations, and potentially the origins of raw materials.

Forced-labor enforcement is one driver, but Cindy explains why this visibility could also become important as the government revisits country-of-origin rules and other trade requirements.

The takeaway: companies should not wait for full traceability to become an explicit requirement before investing in the systems and processes needed to achieve it.

3. Know Who Is Participating in Trade
CBP wants greater visibility not only into what enters the United States, but also who participates in the transaction.

Importer-of-record verification is one area receiving attention. Cindy discusses the current 5106 process, CBP’s efforts to eliminate inactive importer records, and why additional information about importers and other supply-chain participants could become part of future requirements.

CBP is also considering how better participant information can improve risk segmentation and programs such as CTPAT.

4. The Role of Trade Professionals Is Changing
“Trade is a team sport” was a recurring message at the summit.

CBP increasingly sees importers, customs brokers, and other trade participants as partners in identifying suspicious behavior, understanding supply-chain risks, and protecting U.S. economic security.

For trade professionals, that could mean looking beyond traditional transaction-level compliance and developing a stronger understanding of geopolitical developments, enforcement trends, and broader business risks.

Cindy encourages companies to connect their trade teams with regulatory, legislative, and other internal stakeholders to build a more complete picture of emerging risks.

5. Technology and AI
CBP is envisioning a future in which legitimate trade becomes quicker and easier while suspicious shipments and actors become easier to identify.

ACE modernization, cloud technology, reduced duplication of data, and artificial intelligence are all expected to play roles in that transformation.

AI does not eliminate the need for human oversight. Instead, Cindy describes the emerging model as a “human in the loop,” where technology analyzes information and helps professionals become faster and more effective while people remain responsible for reviewing accuracy and making critical decisions.

Key Takeaways
• Economic security is increasingly being treated as an essential component of U.S. national security and trade policy.

• Supply-chain traceability—from finished goods potentially back to raw-material origins—is becoming an increasingly important compliance capability.

• Importer verification and visibility into everyone participating in trade could expand as CBP develops new approaches to risk segmentation.

• Trade professionals should prepare for broader responsibilities while using AI, ACE modernization, and other technology to improve visibility, efficiency, and compliance.

Resources & Mentions
• Global Training Center

• Trade Force Multiplier

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

• Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT)

• Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)

• Trade & Cargo Security Summit

• Section 232 and Section 301 trade actions

Credits
Host:
Cindy Allen

Guest(s):
N/A

Producer:
Lalo Solorzano

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Host: Lalo Solorzano
Guest(s): Michael Laden
Published: September 11, 2026
Length: 40:24
Presented by: Global Training Center

Summary
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, U.S. Customs faced an unprecedented challenge: protect the country from another attack without bringing legitimate international trade to a standstill.

In this episode of Simply Trade, Lalo Solorzano sits down with Michael Laden, one of the original private-sector architects who helped shape what became the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT).

At the time, Michael was a senior trade executive at Target, overseeing a massive global supply chain involving thousands of vendors across 84 countries. The morning after the attacks, he sent a short email to U.S. Customs offering to help. Within 20 minutes, his phone rang.

That call would eventually put Michael in meetings with Customs officials and approximately 50 experts from across the international trade community as they worked at extraordinary speed to rethink cargo security.

Michael shares the story from inside those rooms: the lessons Customs learned about global supply chains, why the private sector insisted CTPAT remain voluntary, the role of the original seven charter members, and how Target discovered that stronger security could actually make its supply chain more efficient.

Twenty-five years later, this is the story of how crisis, collaboration, and practical trade experience helped reshape supply chain security.

Main Topic / Discussion
When Trade Changed Overnight
Following the September 11 attacks, Customs elevated security to its highest priority. Inspections intensified, border traffic slowed dramatically, and just-in-time supply chains began breaking down.

Michael recalls watching the attacks from Target's offices and realizing later that evening that international trade was about to change.

The following morning, he emailed Bonni Tischler, then Assistant Commissioner for Field Operations at the U.S. Customs Service, offering to help from his positions at Target, COAC, and AAEI. Within approximately 20 minutes, he received a call asking him to come to Washington as soon as flights resumed.

Separating the Known From the Unknown
Michael's central idea was straightforward: Customs needed a way to distinguish trusted, known companies and supply chains from unknown and potentially higher-risk shipments.

He pointed to the Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition (BASC), an existing initiative designed to harden supply chains against narcotics smuggling, and suggested adapting the concept to address terrorism on a global scale.

That idea became part of the foundation for what ultimately developed into CTPAT.

Teaching Customs How Supply Chains Really Worked
One of Michael's most revealing stories comes from a meeting with Customs investigators.

Officials wanted Target to guarantee that every shipment entering the United States was completely secure. Michael explained the enormous complexity behind such a request: Target worked with approximately 15,000 vendors across 84 countries.

The exchange exposed a critical knowledge gap. Customs understood what happened when cargo arrived at a U.S. port of entry, but the agency needed private-sector expertise to understand everything that happened upstream throughout a global supply chain.

Building CTPAT at “Warp Speed”
COAC convened approximately 50 private-sector experts representing importers, exporters, brokers, freight forwarders, ports, truckers, airlines, and other parts of international transportation.

Working alongside Customs, the group examined individual supply-chain modes and helped develop the framework that became CTPAT.

Michael also describes debate inside government over which agency should control incoming cargo and explains why members of the trade community strongly advocated for Customs to retain that responsibility.

The program was formally launched on April 16, 2002, with seven charter members Commissioner Robert Bonner referred to as the “Magnificent Seven.”

Why CTPAT Was Voluntary
According to Michael, the trade community strongly pushed for CTPAT to begin as a voluntary partnership.

The reasoning was important: a mandatory system would put every importer into essentially the same regulatory pool. A voluntary program could instead reward companies willing to invest in stronger security while allowing Customs to focus greater scrutiny on companies and supply chains outside the program.

Security That Improved the Business
When Michael asked Target leadership to support the initiative, executives naturally wanted to know what it would cost.

The surprising result was that some changes made to secure Target's supply chain actually saved money. The company identified redundancies, improved transportation processes, increased efficiency, and strengthened security at the same time.

For Michael, that remains an important lesson for companies evaluating CTPAT today: supply-chain security does not necessarily have to come at the expense of operational efficiency.

Key Takeaways
• CTPAT grew from an urgent post-9/11 need to secure international supply chains without stopping legitimate global commerce.

• Government could not secure the international supply chain alone. The program required collaboration with the companies, carriers, logistics providers, and professionals who actually operated those supply chains.

• Michael Laden's early recommendation to adapt concepts from BASC helped frame a system in which Customs could better separate known, trusted supply chains from unknown risks.

• Twenty-five years later, CTPAT demonstrates how security and trade facilitation can reinforce each other—and how stronger supply-chain controls can sometimes create operational efficiencies rather than simply additional costs.

Resources & Mentions
• Global Training Center

• Michael Laden — “The Genesis of the U.S. C-TPAT Program”

• Robert Bonner — Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission

• The Washington Post — “Nation to Boost Anti-Terrorism Precautions”

• Voice of America — “New Security Measures Cause Traffic Jams at U.S.–Mexico Border”

• Voice of America — “September Terror Attacks Tighten U.S.–Mexico Border”

• UTEP/El Paso Borderplex Research Compilation

• Michael Laden — “C-TPAT Off the Rails”

• CBP — Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT)

Credits
Host:
Lalo Solorzano

Guest(s):
Michael Laden - LinkedIn

Producer:
Lalo Solorzano

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Host: Lalo Solorzano & Andy Shiles
Guest(s): Anders Lillevik
Published: September 10, 2026
Length: Approx. 34 minutes
Presented by: Global Training Center

Summary
Procurement and trade compliance may sit in different departments, but today's volatile global environment makes it increasingly difficult for them to operate independently.

In this episode of Simply Trade, Lalo Solorzano and Andy Shiles sit down with Anders Lillevik, Founder and CEO of Focal Point and a procurement veteran with more than 25 years of experience, to explore how procurement, compliance, risk, and logistics can work together to build stronger and more resilient supply chains.

Anders explains why understanding your direct suppliers is no longer enough. Organizations need visibility into the suppliers, subcontractors, geographic dependencies, and risks hiding further down the supply chain. The conversation explores supplier diversification, changing tariffs, transportation disruptions, internal bureaucracy, compliance requirements, and why companies need contingency plans before the next crisis arrives.

The group also discusses an often-overlooked opportunity: bringing trade compliance into the procurement process earlier. From classification and product descriptions to supplier vetting and sourcing decisions, collaboration before a purchase order is issued can prevent delays and costly surprises later.

For trade professionals, procurement leaders, logistics teams, and executives, this episode offers a practical framework for identifying risk and preparing your organization to respond faster when disruption hits.

Main Topic / Discussion
Modern procurement is no longer simply about finding the lowest-cost supplier. Organizations must balance cost, compliance, risk, resilience, transportation, supplier capacity, and geopolitical uncertainty.

Anders explains that effective procurement includes sourcing suppliers, managing existing suppliers, and transacting with them—but today's risk environment requires organizations to look beyond their immediate vendors.

Look Beyond Tier-One Suppliers
A supplier may appear reliable while depending on subcontractors or materials from vulnerable regions. Understanding those indirect dependencies can reveal risks that aren't visible from the primary supplier relationship.

Organizations should identify critical suppliers and ask which suppliers those companies depend on.

Build Supply Chain Alternatives Before You Need Them
Supplier diversification isn't necessarily a cost-optimization strategy. Sometimes paying to maintain secondary or tertiary suppliers is the price of ensuring continuity.

Organizations should evaluate primary, secondary, and tertiary options and understand what it will take to activate those alternatives before a disruption occurs.

Create an Emergency Governance Process
Strong governance matters, but lengthy internal approval processes can become liabilities during a crisis.

Companies need a clearly defined exception or emergency process that allows teams to move quickly when supply is threatened—without abandoning appropriate oversight.

Bring Compliance Into Procurement Earlier
Trade compliance shouldn't first become involved when goods arrive at the port.

Procurement and compliance can collaborate earlier on supplier vetting, product descriptions, HTS classification, special declarations, country-of-origin considerations, and other information that can affect landed cost and clearance.

Getting that information right at the purchase-order stage can reduce downstream delays and improve consistency across commercial and shipping documentation.

Key Takeaways
• Identify your critical suppliers—and understand which third parties those suppliers depend on.

• Build primary, secondary, and tertiary sourcing strategies before disruption forces you to react.

• Don't optimize solely for price. Supplier capacity, resilience, geography, transportation, compliance, and continuity all affect the true cost of sourcing.

• Create an emergency governance or exception process so procurement can respond quickly when critical supply is threatened.

• Bring trade compliance into procurement decisions earlier, particularly around supplier vetting, product descriptions, HTS classification, country of origin, and special declarations.

• Review critical supply-chain risks regularly because suppliers, subcontractors, tariffs, transportation routes, and geopolitical conditions can change.

• Evaluate the cost of maintaining alternative suppliers against the operational and financial impact of losing a critical source.

Resources & Mentions
• Global Training Center

• Focal Point

• Anders Lillevik - LinkedIn

Credits
Host:
Lalo Solorzano
Andy Shiles

Guest(s):
Anders Lillevik - LinkedIn

Producer:
Lalo Solorzano

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Host: Andy Shiles
Guest(s): Nate Smith, Director of Programs at Epicenter
Published: September 9, 2026
Length: ~21 minutes
Presented by: Global Training Center

Summary
What happens when logistics veterans get a firsthand look at technologies designed to solve some of the industry's most persistent problems?

In this Compliance Cowboy edition of Simply Trade, Andy Shiles sits down with Nate Smith, Director of Programs at Epicenter in Memphis, to preview the Logistics Innovation Showcase on October 1, 2026. Part of Memphis World Trade Week, the event brings together supply chain professionals, innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors for a look at emerging solutions that could shape the future of logistics.

Nate explains how five companies were selected from nearly 50 applicants through Epicenter's Logistics Opportunity Challenge. Their solutions tackle real industry challenges spanning cold chain capacity, fraud prevention and detection, drayage and intermodal operations, and oversized and overweight freight.

Andy and Nate also discuss why catching problems earlier can dramatically reduce costs, how previous showcase participants have turned presentations into real revenue-generating contracts, and why Memphis continues to be an important hub for logistics innovation.

Beyond today's solutions, attendees will also get a glimpse at emerging research and technologies that could influence supply chains in the years ahead.

Main Topic / Discussion
The episode previews the Logistics Innovation Showcase taking place October 1 at Epicenter in downtown Memphis as part of Memphis World Trade Week.

At the heart of the event are five companies selected through Epicenter's Logistics Opportunity Challenge:

• Freight Deck — A Birmingham-based heavy-haul cost estimator helping freight brokers and carriers price permits, escorts, and other costs associated with oversized and overweight loads across the U.S. and Canada.

• Pallet Vision — An Ann Arbor company using computer vision and sensors at pallet wrap stations to measure containment force, provide health scores, and create verified digital records before shipments leave the dock.

• ARVEST — A Chicago company using AI-powered cameras and software to automate warehouse quality control and compliance monitoring, including detecting damage, incorrect picks, safety issues, and potential fraud.

• OnSight — A Kansas City company focused on cargo-theft prevention through biometric and digital driver check-in technology.

• Arcticar — An Alameda, California company developing intelligent, all-electric refrigeration systems that can help convert existing trailer assets into additional cold-chain capacity.

The showcase goes beyond startup pitches. Attendees will also hear about emerging research from the University of Memphis FedEx Institute of Technology and quantum-based logistics technology from Zapata Quantum.

Andy will serve as MC for the October 1 event.

Key Takeaways
• The Logistics Opportunity Challenge starts with real problems identified by logistics industry professionals and then searches for companies capable of solving them.

• Nearly 50 companies applied this year, with five logistics experts reviewing each application before the five finalists were selected.

• Earlier detection of freight damage, warehouse errors, fraud, and compliance issues can give companies an opportunity to intervene before those problems become significantly more costly.

• The showcase isn't only about interesting technology — previous editions of the program have resulted in revenue-generating contracts between participating companies and corporate partners.

• Supply chain operators, 3PLs, brokers, shippers, warehouse professionals, investors, and anyone interested in emerging logistics technology can benefit from seeing these solutions firsthand.

• Epicenter has supported more than 1,000 entrepreneurs since its founding and combines customer validation, capital readiness, customer connections, and community-building to help innovative businesses grow.

• Graduates of Epicenter's capital readiness accelerator have raised more than $5 million in equity investment since the program began in spring 2024.

• Memphis World Trade Week gives attendees an opportunity to combine education, networking, logistics innovation, and industry connections across multiple events.

Resources & Mentions
• Global Training Center

• Logistics Innovation Showcase — October 1, 2026

• Memphis World Trade Week 2026

• Epicenter Logistics Opportunity Challenge

Credits
Host:
Andy Shiles

Guest(s):
Nathaniel "Nate" Smith - LinkedIn

Producer:
Lalo Solorzano

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Host: Lalo Solorzano
Guest(s): Arthur O’Meara
Published: September 8, 2026
Length: ~15 minutes
Presented by: Global Training Center

Summary
When goods are damaged in transit, who owns the problem—the seller or the buyer? The answer may not be as straightforward as who owns or physically possesses the goods.

In this Trade Tips episode of Simply Trade, host Lalo Solorzano welcomes longtime Global Training Center instructor Arthur O’Meara for a practical conversation about Incoterms® and one of the most important distinctions in an international transaction: the difference between responsibility, possession, and ownership.

Arthur shares a real-world FCA scenario involving goods shipped from the United States to Canada that were damaged by rain while in transit. Although title to the goods had not yet transferred to the buyer, the Incoterms® rule told a different story about who was responsible for the risk at the time of the damage.

To make these concepts easier to remember, Arthur introduces his RePO framework: Responsibility, Possession, and Ownership. He explains why these three concepts need to be understood separately—and why the paperwork, the parties’ intentions, and what actually happens operationally should all align.

The key lesson: don’t wait until something goes wrong to discover what your contract actually says.

Main Topic / Discussion
This episode focuses on understanding how Incoterms® address the transfer of possession and risk between seller and buyer—and why that should not be confused with the transfer of ownership or title.

Arthur uses the mnemonic RePO: Responsibility, Possession, and Ownership to distinguish three concepts that can transfer at different points in a transaction.

Using an FCA seller’s facility example, Arthur explains how risk can transfer to the buyer once the seller loads the goods onto the collecting vehicle, even though ownership may not yet have transferred. When the shipment in his example was damaged by rain on its way to Canada, understanding the agreed Incoterms® rule helped determine which party bore the risk.

The broader lesson applies beyond FCA: companies should regularly compare their contracts and documentation with their actual operational practices and confirm that they accurately reflect what the buyer and seller intend.

Key Takeaways
• Remember RePO: Responsibility, Possession, and Ownership are separate concepts and should be addressed accordingly in the transaction.

• Incoterms® do not determine ownership: They address important responsibilities between buyer and seller, including delivery and the transfer of risk, but title or ownership must be addressed separately.

• Know when risk transfers: Under FCA at the seller’s facility, the point at which the seller delivers the goods to the buyer’s carrier can determine when risk shifts from seller to buyer.

• Test your paperwork before there’s a problem: Create a hypothetical failure or damaged-shipment scenario, pull out the documentation, and determine whether the written agreement matches the parties’ intentions and actual operations.

Resources & Mentions
• O'Meara and Associates

• Global Training Center

• The Way Things Work: Newly Revised Edition by David Macaulay — Arthur recommends this illustrated reference as an approachable way for trade professionals to better understand mechanical and engineering concepts useful in areas such as tariff classification.

• Whose Problem Is It? Scenario of Incoterms FCA (RePO) — Explore Arthur’s RePO concept and an Incoterms® FCA scenario in more detail.

Credits
Host:
Lalo Solorzano

Guest(s):
Arthur O’Meara - LinkedIn

Producer:
Lalo Solorzano

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