As wars, tariffs and geopolitical headwinds disrupt global commerce, industry experts at a trade fair in Beijing said technological advances and data collaboration could strengthen supply chain resilience.

At this week’s China International Supply Chain Expo, industry participants pointed to greater cross-border data coordination and China’s push into frontier technologies – including artificial intelligence and robotics – as critical moves that could build a more resilient global supply network.

On the sidelines of the expo, logistics experts said the global trading system that underpinned the world economy was facing one of its most challenging periods in decades.

“Any day you get out of bed, there are new tariffs or other supply chain disruptions,” said Jasper Eggebeen, a senior manager at the Holland International Distribution Council, a Dutch logistics association, at the expo on Tuesday.

The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz following this year’s Iran war had upended a key trade corridor, Eggebeen said.

Meanwhile, the protracted Russia-Ukraine war had sent ripple effects through Eurasian logistics networks, said Zhou Yuanyuan, chairwoman of Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment, a container-making subsidiary of China Cosco Shipping, a state-backed marine transport service giant.