Tariffs didn’t bring manufacturing jobs back to the US
The Verge Nilay Patel
Altana, a supply chain management software company, acquired Cervo AI to automate customs brokerage as trade policy disruptions increase, but Trump's tariffs have not brought manufacturing jobs back to the US as intended. The company now employs just under 300 people and works with 9 governments and 8 of the world's 10 largest logistics providers, using AI agents to manage increasingly complex border documentation and trade flows. The shift toward automated trade compliance reflects a broader reckoning with geopolitical fragmentation, where AI orchestration of supply chains becomes necessary to maintain global commerce despite rising economic nationalism.
Why it matters
Today, I’m talking with Evan Smith, who is cofounder and CEO of Altana, a company that develops software tools to manage big, messy supply chain networks around the world. We last had Evan on in early 2025 to talk about how Trump’s first few waves of tariffs were starting to affect global trade and what […]
